Huelgoat

Huelgoat An Uhelgoad
The city seen from the lake
Coat of arms
Huelgoat
Location within Brittany region  Huelgoat
Coordinates: 48°21′54″N 3°44′37″W / 48.365°N 3.7436°WCoordinates: 48°21′54″N 3°44′37″W / 48.365°N 3.7436°W
Country	France
Region	Brittany
Department	Finistère
Arrondissement	Châteaulin
Canton	Huelgoat
Intercommunality	Monts d'Arrée
Government
• Mayor (2014–2020)	Benoît Michel
Area^1	14.87 km^2 (5.74 sq mi)
Population (2008)^2	1,602
• Density	110/km^2 (280/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	29081 / 29690
Elevation	92–267 m (302–876 ft)
^1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. ^2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Huelgoat (Breton: An Uhelgoad) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France.

Population

Inhabitants of Huelgoat are called in French Huelgoatains.

Historical population of Huelgoat

Year	1793	1800	1806	1821	1831	1836	1841	1846	1851	1856
Population	977	898	900	929	1037	1171	1156	1200	1215	1176

Year	1861	1866	1872	1876	1881	1886	1891	1896	1901	1906
Population	1203	1277	1240	1327	1184	1401	1324	1413	1600	1874

Year	1911	1921	1926	1931	1936	1946	1954	1962	1968	1975
Population	2134	1996	2207	2331	2283	2431	2363	2057	2456	2230

Year	1982	1990	1999	2008
Population	2026	1742	1687	1602

Geography

Huelgoat is popular with tourists and holidaymakers due to its impressive natural setting among the vestiges of the ancient forest that once covered inland Brittany. Once part of royal and ducal lands, the forest is now overseen by the French forestry commission, the National Forests Office. It has an area of 10 square kilometres. A large replanting scheme has repaired much of the damage sustained by the forest in storms on the 15–16 October 1987, when 3.1 square kilometres of trees were levelled or damaged.

The village lies on a lake created between the 16th and 18th centuries to supply water to local silver-lead mines by means of a 3 km (1.9 mi) leat or canal.

Sights

Le Champignon rock, Huelgoat

A number of geological and prehistoric curiosities can be found by following trails in and around the village and forest. Among these are:

• Le Chaos de Rochers, the Chaos of Rocks, is a jumble of hundreds of large boulders below the dammed lake, into which the river vanishes. A 10 m descent down ladders is required to see it again, running rapidly below a dark cave called the Devil's Grotto.
• La Roche Tremblante or Trembling Rock, is a 137-tonne boulder nearby, pivoted so it can be made to rock by a person pushing against one point.
• Le Champignon, or The Mushroom, is a large rock balanced on a smaller one to give the eponymous appearance.
• La Mare aux Fées, the fairies' pool.
• La Mare aux Sangliers, the wild boar pool.
• Le Camp d'Artus, Arthur's Camp, a sea promontory hillfort based on a Gaulish oppidum, with a linear murus gallicus rampart. It was used as refuge by the Osisme Gauls against the Roman invasion in 57 BC and later acquired a nickname referring to Arthurian legend. The site was excavated by Sir Mortimer Wheeler.
• La Grotte d'Artus, or Arthur's Cave, is a natural shelter formed under a roof of jammed rocks.

The Poërop Arboretum is a local arboretum with a nationally recognized collection of maple trees, among other substantial collections.

See also

• Communes of the Finistère department
• Parc naturel régional d'Armorique
• Calvary at Saint-Herbot near Plonévez-du-Faou and the Chapelle Saint-Herbot.

References

• INSEE

External links

• Office National des Forêts (French)
• A Huelgoat website (French) (English)
• French Ministry of Culture list for Huelgoat (French)
• https://www.flickr.com/groups/1813771@N21/pool/ (French) (English)