Roscoff Facts for Kids

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Roscoff

Rosko (Breton)

Center of Roscoff from Sainte Barbe chapel

Flag	Coat of arms

Roscoff

Location in France

Roscoff

Location in Brittany

Country

Morlaix

Saint-Pol-de-Léon

Haut-Léon Communauté

Area

6.19 km² (2.39 sq mi)

Population

(2021)

3,334

• Density

538.6/km² (1,395.0/sq mi)

Time zone

UTC+01:00 (CET)

• Summer (DST)

UTC+02:00 (CEST)

INSEE/Postal code

29239 /29680

Elevation

0–58 m (0–190 ft)
(avg. 6 m or 20 ft)

¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Roscoff (/ˈrɒskoʊ/, from Breton: Rosko; French pronunciation: [ʁɔskɔf]) is a commune in the Finistère département of Brittany in northwestern France.

Roscoff is renowned for its picturesque architecture, labelled petite cité de caractère de Bretagne (small town of character) since 2009. Roscoff is also a traditional departure point for Onion Johnnies.

After lobbying by local economic leaders headed by Alexis Gourvennec, the French government agreed in 1968 to provide a deep-water port at Roscoff. Existing ferry operators were reluctant to take on the relatively long Plymouth–Roscoff crossing so Gourvennec and colleagues founded Brittany Ferries. Since the early 1970s Roscoff has been developed as a ferry port for the transport of Breton agricultural produce and for motor tourism. Brittany Ferries link Roscoff with both Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Owing to the richness of iodine in the surrounding waters and the mild climate maintained by a sea current that varies only between 8 and 18 °C (46 and 64 °F), Roscoff is also a centre of post-cure, which gave rise to the concept of thalassotherapy in the latter half of the 19th century. A French doctor, Louis-Eugène Bagot, opened the Institut Marin in Roscoff in 1899, the first centre for thalassotherapy in Europe. Since then many important centres of thalassotherapy such as the Institut de Rockroum (originally Institut marin), the clinic Kerléna and a heliomarin hospital founded in 1900, the Perharidy Centre, can be found by the sea at Roscoff.

The nearby Île de Batz, called Enez Vaz in Breton, is a small island that can be reached by launch from the harbour.

Sights
Population
Breton language
Ferries
Historic events
International relations
Image gallery
See also

Sights

Roscoff parish church Our Lady of Croaz Batz (Notre Dame de Croaz Batz): Renaissance and Gothic church from the 16th century
The house known as "that of Mary, Queen of Scots"
The Station Biologique de Roscoff, a research laboratory in oceanography and marine biology
The Jardin Exotique de Roscoff

The Onion Johnny museum

Population

Inhabitants of Roscoff are called in French Roscovites.

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1968	3,339	—
1975	3,404	+0.28%
1982	3,581	+0.73%
1990	3,711	+0.45%
1999	3,550	−0.49%
2007	3,675	+0.43%
2012	3,515	−0.89%
2017	3,404	−0.64%
Source: INSEE

Breton language

The municipality launched a language plan through Ya d'ar brezhoneg on 14 November 2008.

In 2008 18.44% of primary-school children attended bilingual schools.

Ferries

A ferry departs Roscoff port

Brittany Ferries operate ferry services from Roscoff to Plymouth daily from February to November with occasional Christmas sailings, to Cork twice a week (Friday and Tuesday service).

Irish Ferries used to operate a ferry service from Roscoff to Rosslare from May to September but now sail to Cherbourg instead.

Preceding station		Ferry		Following station
		{{{route1}}}		Plymouth
		{{{route2}}}		Cork

Historic events

In 1375 the harbour was destroyed by English forces under the Earl of Arundel. It would later be rebuilt at its current location, Kroas Batz.
From 1522 to 1545–1550 the construction the Church of Our Lady of Kroas Batz (see Monuments above).
In 1548 the six-year-old Mary, Queen of Scots, having been betrothed to the Dauphin François, disembarked at Roscoff en route from Scotland.
In 1790 Roscoff was raised to independent commune. Until then the town had effectively depended on Saint-Pol-de-Léon.
The illustrator Henry Gerbault and his wife moved to Roscoff in 1919 and lived there for the rest of their lives.