page_title: Château de Brest
section_title: Roman era
hierarchical_section_title: Château de Brest / History / Roman era
caption_attribution_description: Opus mixte - Détail du château de Brest
context_page_description: The Château de Brest is a castle in Brest, Finistère, France. The oldest monument in the town, it is located at the mouth of the river Penfeld at the heart of the roadstead of Brest, one of the largest roadsteads in the world. From the Roman castellum to Vauban's citadel, the site has over 1700 years of history, holding right up to the present day its original role as a military fortress and a strategic location of the highest importance. It is thus the oldest castle in the world still in use, and was classified as a monument historique on 21 March 1923.
  The structure's heterogeneous architecture has been the result of continual adaptations to developments in siege warfare and armament on land and sea. The château stands on the opposite bank to the Tour Tanguy combining to defend the entrance to the Penfeld.
context_section_description: From Roman coinage found on the site, it appears that the Romans were present there at least by the reign of the emperor Septimius Severus (193–211).  The Roman province of Armorica thus had to face Saxon raids.  To face the barbarian invasion threat and the disintegration of the Roman empire, it became necessary to create forts at Brest and several other sites along these coasts.
  The Romans erected a defensive work at the end of the 3rd century.  This camp or castellum housed 1000 men of a troop, headed by a prefect, as well as a fleet designed to intercept pirate ships.  Only one of its walls now survives - these foundations were encased in the ramparts of the present castle, extending for 120-140m in length, on an average height of 3-4m.
  These begin from the base of the wall.  In large part interred under the false-wall of the castle or under the carpark, it remains visible at 2-3m high.  Their external appearance is characteristically Roman, with brick and stone alternating in "opus mixtum", sometimes arranged in "fish-bone" pattern.  This 4m thick fortified wall, with 10 cylindrical towers, defends the point and forms a bar across the spur.  The absence of Roman remains inside the castle suggests it was a purely military work and not also a civil oppidum.  The section of the razed towers at ground level remains visible in the false wall.
  It seems that the Romans did not entirely complete the fortified wall since their presence here was short-lived.  At this era it is possible that the sea coast was simply defended by a ditch and palisade.  1832 saw the discovery of the foundations of a round tower, Roman in appearance, near what is now the tour de Brest.
  The wall was certainly completed as a curtain wall on 3 sides, in a regular trapezoid, with 12 turrets on each side.  Another Gallo-Roman remain survives - a 1.4m wide postern, demolished in the Middle Ages (its stones and bricks survive in the tour Madeleine).
  Ancient Brest was probably the site known to the Romans as Gesoscribate at the termination point of one of the Armorican roads.
caption: Opus mixtum
exif: {}