The Aulnois (; also: ''Aunois'') is a Franco-Belgian river which flows in the French Ardennes département and in the

province of Luxembourg Luxembourg (; ; ; ; ; ), also called Belgian Luxembourg or West Luxembourg, is the southernmost Provinces of regions in Belgium, province of Wallonia within Belgium. It borders the country of Luxembourg to the east, the France, French depart ...

in the far south of Belgian

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

. It is about long, of which 7 km in France. It is a fairly fast-flowing

right tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ('' main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which the ...

of the

Chiers The Chiers (; , ) is a river in Luxembourg, Belgium and France. It is a right tributary of the Meuse. The total length of the Chiers is approximately , of which in France. The source of the Chiers is near Differdange, in Luxembourg. The Chiers ...

Geography

The Aulnois rises in the forest of Muno which stretches over the south of the Belgian province of Luxembourg. It generally flows southwards throughout its course. After crossing the Franco-Belgian border it continues towards the south until its confluence with the Chiers, which occurs at

Carignan Carignan (; also known as Mazuelo, Bovale Grande, Cariñena, Carinyena, Samsó, Carignane, and Carignano) is a red grape variety of Spanish origin that is more commonly found in French wine but is widely planted throughout the western Medite ...

in the Ardennes just after the Aulnois has received its main tributary, the Matton.

Localities along the Aulnois

The Aulnois flows through the

French commune A () is a level of administrative division in the French Republic. French are analogous to civil townships and incorporated municipalities in Canada and the United States; ' in Germany; ' in Italy; ' in Spain; or civil parishes in the Uni ...

s of Messincourt, Pure, Osnes and Carignan, all in the Ardennes département. In Belgium it flows through Muno, part of the

Florenville Florenville (; Gaumais: ''Floravile'') is a city and municipality in the province of Luxembourg, Wallonia, Belgium. It is located in the southwest part of the country bordering France, on the banks of the Semois river. Spread across an area of ...

municipality in the province of Luxembourg.

Tributaries

* La Goutelle, a right tributary, received at Messincourt. * Matton, a left tributary received at Carignan.

Hydrology

The Aulnois is a small but substantial river. At its confluence with the Chiers, its mean annual flow rate or discharge rises to for a watershed of . The

runoff curve number The runoff curve number (also called a curve number or simply CN) is an empirical parameter used in hydrology for predicting direct runoff or infiltration from rainfall excess. The curve number method was developed by the USDA Natural Resources C ...

in the watershed is , which is very high, approximately twice the average for France including all watersheds. It is also higher even than the French

Meuse The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . History From 1301, the upper ...

basin, which is itself relatively high, at at Chooz near the border.Banque Hydro - La Meuse à Chooz
Its specific flow rate thus reaches the high value of 20.6 litres per second per square kilometre of watershed.

Heritage

* Messincourt, with the remains of a castle razed at the beginning of the 16th century having many underground works, a former church with a

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

from the 18th century and a building in the centre from the 12th and 13th centuries called the "Château", as well as woods and forests. * Pure, with an old church reconstructed in 1830,

forge A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature at which it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to the ...

s, and woodland. * Osnes, a village which once hosted a significant

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...

industry. It has a 16th-century church restored in the 18th century. The church has a 12th-century altar and an educational display. * Carignan, the former Gallo-Roman Epoisso Vicus, constructed on the road from Reims to Trèves. Known as "Yvois" up until its annexation to France in the 1659

Treaty of the Pyrenees The Treaty of the Pyrenees(; ; ) was signed on 7 November 1659 and ended the Franco-Spanish War that had begun in 1635. Negotiations were conducted and the treaty was signed on Pheasant Island, situated in the middle of the Bidasoa River on ...

(1659), it was razed to the ground by

Gaspard III de Coligny Gaspard III de Coligny, duc de Châtillon, (26 July 1584 – 4 January 1646) was a French Huguenot, who served under Louis XIII of France, Louis XIII, and was appointed Marshal of France in 1622. He was described as "a mediocre general, but absol ...

. It has a Gallo-Roman villa and a Merovingian Necropolis, as well as the remains of the fortified compound from the 16th century, reconstituted in the 17th century with curtain walls,

bastion A bastion is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fire from the ...

s and

casemate A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armoured structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" ...

s, and the 17th century Porte de Bourgogne

guardhouse A guardhouse (also known as a watch house, guard building, guard booth, guard shack, security booth, security building, or sentry building) is a building used to house Security guard, personnel and security equipment. Guardhouses have histori ...

. Carignan also has a

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons, a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, headed by a dignitary bearing ...

from the 16th and 17th centuries featuring a 16th-century virgin with child and pictures from the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as hosting the "Conservatoire de l'Outil"

tool A tool is an Physical object, object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many Tool use by animals, animals use simple tools, only human bei ...

museum, a gymnastic association and a sports club.

References

External links

* * * {{cite web, url= http://ddaf.ardennes.agriculture.gouv.fr/agriculture/statistiques/presentation%20du%20dep/DEPT_hydrographie.pdf , archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081203122057/http://ddaf.ardennes.agriculture.gouv.fr/agriculture/statistiques/presentation%20du%20dep/DEPT_hydrographie.pdf , url-status= dead, archive-date= 2008-12-03 , title=Hydrographic network map of the Ardennes department , language=fr Rivers of the Ardennes (Belgium) Rivers of the Ardennes (France) Rivers of Belgium Rivers of France Rivers of Ardennes (department) Rivers of Grand Est Rivers of Luxembourg (Belgium) Florenville International rivers of Europe