A BRIEF HISTORY

Damgan covers an area of 1,016 hectares and has 1,167 residents, with its population swelling to more than 30,000 in summer. It is attached to the canton (district) of Muzillac, in the arrondissement (area) of Vannes, in the Morbihan departement (county).

The area is bordered to the South by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the North by the Pénerf River, the maritime section of the Drayac River.

The village occupies a low-lying, very flat area and has a long coastline. This means the sea is omnipresent, and has dominated all local activities since time immemorial: shops, salt marshes, oyster farming, and tourism. Occasionally, storms, tidal waves or coastal erosion make it necessary to undertake work to protect the dunes from the encroaching sea by building defences (rip rap) or sea walls.
From the furthest recesses of prehistory to the present day, the feature that best characterises this area is the unchanging nature of the human habitat. The locals are also great lovers of seafood. The evidence for this is left for all to see: huge piles of empty shells!

The oldest traces of Damgan's inhabitants date back more than 600,000 years and were discovered the length of the shore stretching from Kervoyal to Le Diben.
The parish of Damgan was established in 1820. In 1824, Damgan separated from the neighbouring village of Ambon and became a district in its own right.

The first Oyster bed was laid in 1848 in Pénerf and oyster farming developed rapidly thereafter.

Although the first "bather" was recorded in 1860, the first beach hut on the Damgan coastline only appeared in 1877. Damgan gradually became established as a seaside holiday destination.
After the Second World War, the summertime population grew and, from 1968, saw the start of a holiday home development boom. Damgan had become a tourist hotspot!!
Old photos shown are taken from the book "Images du temps passé" (Images from times gone by) edited by the association ‘Damgan et son histoire’ (Damgan and its history) on sale at the tourist office.

Heritage :
Notre Dame de Bonne Nouvelle Church

Patron saint of travellers and sailors.
It was during the first half of the 16th century that the construction of the chapel devoted to Our Lady of Good News was started.
The chapel was built in the form of a barn, with no bell tower, and with a beaten-earth floor. As the years went by the building was reduced to a ruin.
A written text dating from 1841 describes the need to rebuild the chapel as a church.
The chapel was demolished and in 1843 on the 15th June, the Feast of God, the benediction of the first stone of the new church of Damgan was performed by Mr Jacques Quellec, priest of the canton.