Fonseranes Locks (, ) are a flight of

staircase locks A lock is a device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercraft between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a chamber in a permanently fixed position i ...

on the

Canal du Midi The Canal du Midi (; ) is a long canal in Southern France (). Originally named the ''Canal Royal en Languedoc'' (Royal Canal in Languedoc) and renamed by French revolutionaries to ''Canal du Midi'' in 1789, the canal is considered one of the g ...

near

Béziers Béziers (; ) is a city in southern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. Every August Béziers ho ...

. They consist of eight oval-shaped lock chambers, characteristic of the Canal du Midi, and nine gates, which allow boats to be raised a height of over a distance of . The flight was originally built as an eight-rise, which together with the ninth lock (the , to the northeast) allowed boats to cross the

Orb river The Orb (; ) is a long river in the department of Hérault in the south of France. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea at Valras-Plage. The river flows through the towns of Bédarieux and Béziers, where it is crossed by the canal du Midi on the ...

on a level and re-enter the canal further downstream. The "nine locks" name dates from this time. However, in 1858 an aqueduct was built to replace the crossing of the Orb. Boats now enter and leave the lower end of the flight through the side of chamber seven, which is permanently kept at its upper water level. The flight is therefore effectively made up of six locks. The lower gates of the seventh chamber are now permanently closed; the eighth chamber and the ninth lock, the pre-1858 route descending to the Orb, are disused. This side exit from chamber seven causes some confusion in describing the flight of locks. While most sources now ignore the disused eighth chamber, some still describe the flight as a seven-rise, despite chamber seven being permanently at the lower canal level. In 1983 the Fonseranes inclined plane was built adjacent to the locks, to allow commercial traffic and boats too large for the locks to bypass them. Unfortunately the project encountered technical problems, and after many years of attempting to solve them the inclined plane was abandoned in 2001. Traditional buildings such as the stables and the lock keeper's house still remain. These and the locks themselves have made the site the third most popular tourist destination in

Languedoc-Roussillon Languedoc-Roussillon (; ; ) is a former regions of France, administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, it joined with the region of Midi-Pyrénées to become Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. It comprised five departments o ...

, after the Pont du Gard and the town of

Carcassonne Carcassonne is a French defensive wall, fortified city in the Departments of France, department of Aude, Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. It is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the department. ...

. Though

Pierre-Paul Riquet Pierre-Paul Riquet, Baron de Bonrepos (; 29 June 1609 (some sources say 1604) – 4 October 1680) was the engineer and canal-builder responsible for the construction of the Canal du Midi. Early life Born as Paul Riquet in Béziers, Hérault, Fran ...

rightly receives much credit and acknowledgement for the creation of the

, we may forget that many individual parts of the canal were built by subcontractors other than Riquet. The subcontractors for these locks were two

illiterate Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

brothers, Michel and Pierre Medailhes. Many of the workers were women.

References

External links

* The French article from which this article was translated
Fonserannes Locks

{{Coord, 43, 19, 50, N, 3, 11, 59, E, display=title, region:FR_type:landmark_source:dewiki Buildings and structures in Hérault Locks on the Canal du Midi Transport in Occitania (administrative region) Tourist attractions in Hérault Staircase locks

See also

References

External links