The Scarpe () is a river in the

Hauts-de-France Hauts-de-France (; pcd, Heuts-d'Franche; , also ''Upper France'') is the northernmost Regions of France, region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its Prefectu ...

region of France. It is a left-bank tributary of the river Escaut (

Scheldt The Scheldt (french: Escaut ; nl, Schelde ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of Netherlands, the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corr ...

). It is long. The source of the river is at

Berles-Monchel Berles-Monchel () is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region in northern France. Geography A village located 11 miles (17 km) northwest of Arras on the D82 junction with the N39 road, in the valley, and the so ...

near

Aubigny-en-Artois Aubigny-en-Artois (, literally ''Aubigny in Artois'') is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. Geography A town located 8 miles (13 km) northwest of Arras at the junction of the D73, D74, D75 and D49 roads, just by th ...

. It flows through the towns of

Arras Arras ( , ; pcd, Aro; historical nl, Atrecht ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department, which forms part of the regions of France, region of Hauts-de-France; before the regions of France#Reform and mergers of ...

, Douai and

Saint-Amand-les-Eaux Saint-Amand-les-Eaux (; former nl, Sint-Amands-aan-de-Skarpe, link=no) is a commune in the Nord department, northern France. It lies on the river Scarpe, 12 km northwest of Valenciennes. In French, the town people are named ''Amandinois'' ...

. The river ends at

Mortagne-du-Nord Mortagne-du-Nord () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It lies on the border with Belgium, on the river Scheldt. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord ...

where it flows into the Scheldt.

Scarpe Mountain Scarpe may refer to: * Scarpe river, in France *Battle of the Scarpe (disambiguation) The Battle of the Scarpe refers to a number of battles fought on the Western Front during World War I in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France: * Battle of th ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, was named after the river. The navigable waterway and its coal barges also feature in the novels by 19th century author

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...

Navigation

The river was made navigable by weirs and locks over about two thirds of its length (), divided into the Upper Scarpe (, 23 km, 9 locks) from Arras to

Courchelettes Courchelettes () is a commune of the Nord department in northern France. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord department of the French Republic. The communes cooperat ...

, the Middle Scarpe through Douai, and the Lower Scarpe (, 36 km, 6 locks) from Douai to the Escaut. The Middle Scarpe is no longer navigable, bypassed by the high-capacity Canal Dunkerque-Escaut.

History

This river was navigated from the Escaut up to Douai as early as 638, but improvements with flash locks were required to give access to the important town of Arras, reached in 1613. This remained a shallow navigation, with locks of varying width and length, until it was improved to the Becquey gauge in the 1840s. The enlargement to

Freycinet gauge The Freycinet gauge (french: gabarit Freycinet) is a standard governing the dimensions of the locks of some canals, put in place as a result of a law passed during the tenure of Charles de Freycinet as minister of public works of France, dating fr ...

was completed by about 1890. Today the Lower Scarpe is closed from the Douai junction to Saint-Amand-les-Eaux pending dredging and identification of a new owner and operator. The river and its valley were important battlegrounds in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The valley of the Scarpe has been designated as a protected

Ramsar site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

References

External links

River Scarpe
with further maps and details of places and moorings, by the author of ''Inland Waterways of France''
Navigation details for 80 French rivers and canals
(French waterways website section) {{Authority control Rivers of Nord (French department) Rivers of the Pas-de-Calais World War I in the Pas-de-Calais Rivers of Hauts-de-France Rivers of France Ramsar sites in Metropolitan France Hauts-de-France region articles needing translation from French Wikipedia