Houat

Houat (in Breton Enez Houad , marked ˈwat) is an island of the coast morbihannaise, in Brittany. Administratively, it constitutes a common named “ Island-with Houat ”. It belongs to the association of the Îles of the West.

Its inhabitants are called the Houatais .

Geography

The island is 5 km long and 1,5 km with broadest. It is a granitic plate softening in a great beach bordered of dunes in the east. The northern end of this beach is consisted the point of In Tal, which rare curiosity, is, at the same time, a convex beach.

At the western end, the island is prolonged by a called granitic roadway fitted of Beniguet, separated from the island by a narrow channel. The roadway is stretched towards the Presqu'île of Quiberon of which it is separated by the passage from Teignouse.

With the south, some uninhabited small islands of granite to the point of the island. Further in the south, is the island with the Horses.

In south-east, the passage of the Sisters, dangerous because not very deep and truffle of rocks, separate it from Hoëdic.

It faces the Golfe of Morbihan.

History

Houat is a municipality only since the end of the system of the vice-chancellors in Brittany, post-war period. At the time, the priest acted as mayor. It was set up in commune in 1891.

The island counts three forts built at the 19th century with an aim of denying oneself the Britanniques. They were almost never useful: the strong main thing, in the south-west of the village “inside the grounds”, the fort of the advanced In Tal, which is rather simple fears and the fort of Beniguet at the western end of the island.

The old port, known as “the old port”, located at the south of the great beach close to the village, was destroyed in the Fifties by a strong storm of south-east. There rebuilt forever, he remains a partially submerged pier about it. The current port, Saint-Gildas port, are located on the northern coast in the vicinity immediate of the village.

Administration

The village counts two elementary schools, public and a private catholic, and a college which provides education for also the children of Hoëdic. The birthrate, weak, makes it possible to feed manpower of these establishments, of small size nevertheless.

The motor vehicles are prohibited on the island, except exemption granted by the municipal council. One counts only one ten cars for the trade of the island.

The registration of the boats houatais depends on the district of the maritime businesses of Auray.

The mail comes, by boat, of Quiberon.

Demography

All the territory of Houat depends on the commune of the same name. The village, installed in the North-East of the island, concentrates the great majority of the population. The remainder of the island very little built is uninhabited the winter.

Economy

The agricultural activity, which was always puffing on Houat, is currently non-existent.

The major part of the men in age to work are fishing. The fishing with the Lobster and the Crab constituting the local halieutic main resource. A lobster eclosery was installed besides on the island to try to renew the fish ponds of fishing it was transformed into an production unit of plankton of cosmetic use, the éclosarium , which one can visit.

The second economic resource is, of course, tourism. In summer, several services of boats bring the visitors of Vannes, Port-Navalo and especially of Quiberon. A camp-site in extreme cases one year fluctuating on the other had been installed in way Spartan on the point of In Tal and the beach of Salus. It has been moved for approximately two years, near south-western cliffs of the island located vis-a-vis the island with the horses, close to Trea' CH rear Salus. One goes there since the borough by taking the way passing by the DZ (zone of installation helicopter for the medical evacuations) and the football field. It is open from April to September. The medical removable ones are installed during this period. It is about a provisional zone of camp-site. The municipality has a project of camp-site but which this hour encounters against the regrouping of private grounds… There are two grocers, a bakery, two hotels/restaurant, a pancake shop, a newsagent, an doctor's office which acts as pharmacy for the prescribed drugs.

Fauna and flora

The island is almost entirely covered with a Lande of Fougère S and Ajonc S which is made close-cropped side of the full sea. The Dune S of the beach of the east are a fragile medium protected by the Conservatoire from the littoral: one finds there a species endemic wild of Lys of the dunes very threatened. One also finds, of the thistles, wild garlic, the dwarf wild rose trees, etc Apart from the village, there is only one about thirty trees on Houat.

Terrestrial fauna is primarily made up, in addition to the insects, of pheasants and partridges of breeding, nourished with the local buckwheat, and of rabbits which proliferate in spite of hunting that one gives them. Some horses remade their appearance lately for tourism.

The marine wild species are more numerous than the terrestrial species. One finds colonies of mould S and Huître S savages, Tourteau X, currycomb S and spider crabs, Homard, Congre S in the rocks…

Islands of the West

External bonds

Official site of the commune of Houat
Site of association Melvan
Site of the public school of Houat
Houat on the site of the national geographical Institute
Houat on the site of INSEE
Houat on the site of Quid
Localization of Houat on a chart of France and communes bordering
a blog on the island on Houat

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