Pornic, a town full of history

As far back as the Mesolithic era, prehistoric man recognized the beauty of our beautiful region and settled on the cliffs of Sainte-Marie! Along the coastline, you can discover numerous megalithic sites (Tumulus des Mousseaux, dolmens…).

Around 700, the Saracens arrived in the bay, followed by the Vikings!

In 940, Alain Barbetorte repelled the Vikings, the town took shape and a fortified castle was built between Pornic’s 3 rivers (the Haute Perche canal, the Dette and the Carcaud stream).

The name Pornic appears for the^{1st time} around 1080 in the archives (Porsniti) and 100 years later Sainte-Marie added the name Pornic to testify to the link between the 2 sites.

Between 1360 and 1450, Pornic oscillated between the authority of the Duke of Brittany and the barony of Rais. A map of the Breton coast dating from 1548 has been found, showing Pornic as one of the Breton communes… the town struggled to find its place.

In 1581, the Baroness de Rais became the Duchy of Retz, which gave rise to the name “Pays de Retz” for this beautiful region.

From 1600 onwards, piracy raged, destabilizing Pornic’s economy. It was also at this time that the covered market was built in the heart of the town to facilitate trade and commerce, as Pornic became an important fishing and commercial port. From 1700 onwards, shipyards expanded enormously, and the Chemin des Douaniers (now a lovely hiking trail not to be missed) was built to monitor maritime traffic and limit smuggling around the corsair town!