The Pont Neuf and small customs house at Auray, a town on the River Loch in Southern Brittany, France. The bridge links Auray’s upper town on the River Loch’s north-west bank to Auray’s port area of Saint-Goustan on the south-east bank. Auray has long been a trading centre and the customs house collected taxes on items passing through the port and over the bridge. A stone bridge was first recorded here in the 1200s, but the river in this area is strongly affected by tides and the bridge has been rebuilt twice, in 1464 and 1752.
Auray, Morbihan, southern Brittany, France: Pont Neuf across the River Loch or Loc’h and small customs house. Auray is said to be the last place reached by Julius Caesar on his conquest of Gaul. Its later history is bloody. The Battle of Auray, on Michaelmas Day 1364, ended the Breton War of Succession, witnessed the defeat and death of Charles de Blois and secured the dukedom of Brittany for young Jean de Montfort, later son-in-law to King Edward III of England. In 1795, following the 1789 French Revolution, royalist counter-revolutionaries known as Chouans were transferred to Auray as captives. After a summary trial, a military commission of Auray citizens condemned them to death; 750 of them were shot and buried in a meadow now called the Champ des Martyrs or Martyrs' Field.
Size: 4256px × 2832px
Location: Pont Neuf, Auray, Morbihan, southern Brittany, France:
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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