Le Phare de Gatteville

Lighthouse Gatteville or Gatteville-Barfleur lighthouse is located on the tip of Barfleur (common Gatteville-le-Phare), in the Channel. He noted the strong currents of tidal Barfleur.

Strong currents off the tip of Barfleur, and the many shipwrecks (the most famous is undoubtedly that of the White Ship) makes it essential to build a lighthouse.

In 1774, during the reign of Louis XIV, the Rouen Chamber of Commerce decides to build a first lighthouse granite, 25 meters. At its peak, a fire of wood and coal burning continuously. The coal was supplied to a man's back and let the guards some rest. In 1780 the coal fire was replaced by a system consisting of 16 lamps oil lamps in a glass lantern.

Too small to accommodate modern lenses, and too small to be elevation of 32 meters, it was decided to erect a new tower in 1825. The architect Charles Morice Felix de la Rue, in the reign of Charles X, who then draw the highlight of the Hague, design plans for the tallest lighthouse at the time (since surpassed by the flagship Virgin Island) . Work began in 1829 and will continue into 1835.

The old lighthouse is semaphore.

The lighthouse has as many walks as days in the year, as many windows as many weeks and as many levels (represented by the number of windows on the front) that month.