the-bridge-pontdelacorde

It was necessary to wait until 1922 when Mr. Albert Louppe, then President of the General Council, made the construction of the first Pont de la Corde bridge proceed. This bridge, 109 metres long, was situated slightly downstream from the one that exists currently. During the first years that followed its construction, it was still necessary to pay for the right of passage. In her work "Carantec, a Léon coastal town’ Mrs. Luce-Lozach recounts the inauguration day of this bridge: " On October 29, 1927, Messrs Merret and Le Nen, carriers in Carantec, participated in tests to determine the strength of the work at the wheel of their trucks full of hardcore ".

The ceremony of inauguration was fixed for Sunday 30th, in the presence of the government's representative, the Prefect, the sub-prefect and the local authorities who were welcomed at the station of Saint Pol with all the pomp and ceremony required for such an event. On the bridge, blocked off by a tricolor ribbon and disappearing under foliages and garlands made up by the little girls from the schools, Miss Marzin, from the Pont de la Corde, presented scissors on a velvet cushion. The ribbon was cut, and the clergy blessed the so long wished for bridge.



	The bridge


			Traduction , Richard Longridge and Bernard Le Mer.


	People living in the territories of Henvic and Carantec lived over the centuries under conditions of life similar to that of islanders. The peninsula is in fact bordered by the waters of the Penzé, to the west, and by those from the river leading to Morlaix to the East. Its own network of communications consisted of paths used up to the time of the Revolution, according to feudal right. The most important paths joined Carantec to Morlaix, one passing through Henvic, then through Taulé, and the other via the Frout, and Taulé. It is only at the 20th century, with the appearance of the car, that the roads allowed this region to be opened up.

So the importance given to the crossing at the Pont de la Corde can be understood since earliest times. It permitted access towards St. Pol de Léon. To cross the Penzé, it was necessary to cross between the site at Ste Marguerite chapel in Henvic, and the one of Saint Yves, in Plouénan, to get a ferry. It was called the " Passage of the Rope " (hence ‘Pont de la Corde’) which was still known until around 1700 as the ‘Passage des Boeufs’ (‘ The Cattle Crossing ‘). This ferry was paying, and it was the Lords of Lezireur who controlled the right of passage. Numerous were the pilgrims of the " Tro Breiz " who used this ferry.

			It is toward the end of the 19th century with the progress of techniques, that the construction of a bridge was contemplated at this site.. One solution had been considered, but was abandoned quickly. It would have consisted of doubling the railway bridge of the Morlaix-Roscoff line, to allow carts to cross. At the time of an extraordinary meeting, on April 19, 1908, the Municipal Council of Henvic renewed its demand, “citing the need of the peninsula for contact with St. Pol de Léon, facilitating recourse to the doctor and to the chemist ". But this demand was rejected by the General Council. A new demand, also refused, took place the following year, for a steam-powered ferry. Three years later, it was the General Council that voted for the creation of a rotating bridge, of which the central part, 28 metres long, was to rest on a pier 4 metres of diameter. But the war of 1914-18 broke out, and this project was not to come to fruition.

Then there was the welcome in Henvic, the arrival in Carantec, where a special meal was served in the Merret garage, now cleared of its vehicles and decorated artistically for the circumstance. On Tuesday November 2nd the first cartloads of artichokes arrived without impediment in St. Pol, at the Place de l’Evéché (Bishop’s Square). And the old ferry that, in its time, had represented progress, slept forever under its shroud of mud. And so ended the career of the father Adrien (Hérec) who "fulfilled for forty years the hard and thankless job of ferrying people from one bank to the other, and whom people loved and respected."