The Briare Canal (french: Canal de Briare, ) is one of the oldest

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface f ...

s in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Its construction started in 1604. It was the first summit level canal in Europe that was built using pound locks, connecting the Rhone-

Saône The Saône ( , ; frp, Sona; lat, Arar) is a river in eastern France. It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department and joining the Rhône in Lyon, at the southern end of the Presqu'île. The name d ...

and

Seine ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/ Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributa ...

valleys. It is long and is part of the Bourbonnais route from Saint-Mammès on the

Chalon-sur-Saône Chalon-sur-Saône (, literally ''Chalon on Saône'') is a city in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is the largest city in the department; h ...

on the

. From

Briare Briare (, also known as Briare-le-Canal) is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France, in the historical region of Puisaye. The composer and organist Henri Nibelle (1883–1967) was born in Briare. Briare, the ''Brivodorum'' of ...

to Buges, the canal rises through the first 12 locks some and then falls through the remaining 24 locks.

Construction

The canal was initiated by Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully, with support from Henry IV in order to develop the

grain trade The grain trade refers to the local and international trade in cereals and other food grains such as wheat, barley, maize, and rice. Grain is an important trade item because it is easily stored and transported with limited spoilage, unlike other ...

, and to reduce food shortages. Its construction started in 1604 and was completed in 1642. Between 6,000 and 12,000 labourers worked on this canal which connects the basins of the rivers

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhôn ...

and

Hugues Cosnier Hugues Cosnier () was a French engineer who conceived of the Briare Canal who was born in Tours, 1573, and died in 1629. in Paris He proposed to Henri IV the idea of building a canal from the Loire River to the River Seine. It would go from Briar ...

obtained the contract to build the second canal crossing a watershed in Europe, involving many more locks than on the first. It was thus necessary to use locks. A staircase of seven locks was built in

Rogny-les-Sept-Écluses Rogny-les-Sept-Écluses () is a commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France. The name of the commune comes from its impressive seven locks on Briare Canal. Geography The commune is located some west of ...

. (This was bypassed in 1887 but is preserved as an ancient monument and floodlit at night.) After Henri IV's assassination,

had to give up work in 1611. In 1638,

Guillaume Boutheroue Guillaume Boutheroue was a French engineer who completed the Briare Canal, originated by Hugues Cosnier. In 1623, he was the Poor Rate and Tax Collector at Beaugency. In 1638, along with his brother-in-law Jacques Guyon, he obtained letters pa ...

and

Jacques Guyon Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are ove ...

applied to resume work, and received letters patent from

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crow ...

for this purpose. They created with other nobles the ''Compagnie des seigneurs du canal de Loyre en Seine'' and work was completed by 1642. Reservoirs were dug to supply the approximately 2000 cubic meters of water displaced at each lock. They include the reservoirs of Turfs, Chesnoy, Grand-rû, Tilery, Du Chateau, Cahauderie, Beaurois, the Bourdon reservoir, and the Moutiers reservoir on the Loing. The original source of water was the

Étang de la Gazonne '','' ( en, "Grassy Pond"), is a lake that provides water for the workings of the Canal de Briare. Hugues Cosnier, designer of the canal, planned a waterway from the River Trezée to the Gazonne. The Gazonne acted as a reservoir. Reference ...

Usage

By the mid 18th century more than 500 wine barges were in use bringing wines from the

Auvergne Auvergne (; ; oc, label= Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Au ...

Mâcon Mâcon (), historically anglicised as Mascon, is a city in east-central France. It is the prefecture of the department of Saône-et-Loire in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Mâcon is home to near 34,000 residents, who are referred to in French as M ...

, Beaujolais,

Sancerre Sancerre () is a medieval hilltop town (ville) and commune in the Cher department, France overlooking the river Loire. It is noted for its wine. History Located in the area of Gaul settled by the powerful Celtic (Gaule Celtique) tribe, the B ...

, and

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (; , ; oc, Lengadòc ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately ...

regions. Other cargoes included firewood, timber, coal and iron, faïence from

Nevers Nevers ( , ; la, Noviodunum, later ''Nevirnum'' and ''Nebirnum'') is the prefecture of the Nièvre Departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in central France. It was the principal city of the ...

and fruit from the

. All hauling was done by men, generally two to a boat. Shortages of water in the reservoirs and Loire valley often resulted in 2–3 months closure per year.

Modifications

The canal was repurchased by the State in 1860. In periods of drought the canal's reservoirs were insufficient to keep the canal full of water, therefore in 1894 and 1895 a

pumping station Pumping stations, also called pumphouses in situations such as drilled wells and drinking water, are facilities containing pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are used for a variety of infrastructure system ...

was built to pump water into the summit pound. The

Briare aqueduct The Briare Aqueduct in central France carries the Canal latéral à la Loire over the river Loire on its journey to the Seine. It replaced a river-level crossing from the canal to meet the Briare Canal that was hazardous in times of flood. Betwee ...

built over the Loire in

between 1890 and 1896 by the engineer Abel Mazoyer is part of the Canal latéral à la Loire, and replaced the old line of that canal, built between 1820 and 1830.

En route

* PK 57 Connection with Canal du Loing and the (disused) Canal d'Orleans at Buges. *PK 56.7 Aqueduct over the river Solin *PK 52 Montargis *PK 40

Montcresson Montcresson () is a commune in the Loiret Loiret (; ) is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of north-central France. It takes its name from the river Loiret, which is contained wholly within the department. In 2019, Loiret had a ...

*PK 35

Montbouy Montbouy () is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France. Geography The Aveyron river flows into the Loing in the commune. History Neolithic artefacts have been found on each side of the Loing river, downstream from Montbouy ...

*PK 29

Châtillon-Coligny Châtillon-Coligny () is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France. The Loing and the Briare Canal run through the town. Sights and monuments * Château de Châtillon-Coligny Notable people *Gaspard I de Coligny (c.1465-152 ...

( 12th-century castle) *PK 19

*PK 8 Ouzouër-sur-Trézée *PK 1

*PK 0 Baraban entrance lock from the river

and junction with the old line of the Canal latéral à la Loire in Briare. Canal de Briare-location

References

External links