Canal des Ardennes

Canal des Ardennes
Canal des Ardennes at Rethel
Specifications
Length	88 km (55 mi)
Maximum boat length	38.5 m (126 ft)
Maximum boat beam	5.05 m (16.6 ft)
Locks	44
Maximum height above sea level	151.3 m (496 ft)
Minimum height above sea level	60.55 m (198.7 ft)
Navigation authority	VNF
History
Date approved	1820
Construction began	1823-1827
Date of first use	1831
Date completed	1835
Geography
Start point	Vieux-les-Asfeld
End point	Pont-a-Bar (Dom-le-Mesnil)
Beginning coordinates	49°26′56″N 4°05′43″E / 49.4489°N 4.0953°E / 49.4489; 4.0953
Ending coordinates	49°41′37″N 4°49′48″E / 49.6936°N 4.83°E / 49.6936; 4.83
Branch(es)	Canal Vouziers
Connects to	Meuse River, Canal de la Meuse, Canal lateral a l'Aisne

The Canal des Ardennes (Ardennes Canal) is a Summit level canal built to the Freycinet gauge between the river valleys of the Aisne and the Meuse.

The Canal des Ardennes is 87.779 km long and has 44 locks (37 on the Aisne side and 7 on the Meuse side) with a tunnel to Saint-Aignan.

The Canal connects the village of Pont-à-Bar in the Dom-le-Mesnil commune (08) to the commune of Vieux-lès-Asfeld (08). The first part of the canal is 39 km long ando crosses the threshold between the valleys of the Meuse and the Aisne by following the Bar Valley, diverting briefly at Saint-Aignan for a shortcut through a tunnel. On this part to the summit level it is powered by a supply of water from the Lac de Bairon and water pumped from the Meuse. After the summit is reached it quickly descends to the Aisne by a series of 26 locks over just 9 km. From Semuy the canal closely follows the course of the Aisne. In places it even follows the old river bed and has many turns as the river has been diverted into very straight sections. On the Aisne side it is powered by regular water intake from the river (the Vouziers, Rilly, Givry, Biermes, and Asfeld dams).

On the Aisne side there is a branch 12.066 kilometres long for a drop of nearly 9 m. This is the Vouziers Branch, also called the Canal de Vouziers. This branch leads from Vouziers to Semuy along the Aisne and has 4 locks.

The canal has the distinction of having two separate parts and two series of locks, as if it was composed of two distinct canals. The first is the portion from the Meuse to the Aisne river at the junction to the Vouziers Branch (Pont-à-Bar to Semuy, 39 km) with the second part entirely parallel to the Aisne beginning at Vouziers and continuing parallel to the Aisne to Semuy (59 km).

The first canal projects in the region date from 1684 under the Louvois ministry and consisted of using and extending the course of the Bar which was then navigable. Various proposals were made over the decades and, in letters patent of June 1776 - almost a century later, the Prince of Conti was granted the privilege of its construction and operation. The prince died shortly after and nothing was done. After the French Revolution of 1789 the National Constituent Assembly relaunched the project but found fault with previous studies and the project did not proceed.