François RENEL AN EXAMPLE OF THE HYDRAULIC POTENTIAL OF A SMALL VALLEY BEING PUT TO USE DURING THE MEDIEVAL AND MODERN PERIODS The "Zac Pépinière", Tigery (Essonne)

Abstract

Trial trenching on the ZAC Pepinière site at Tigery (Essonne) led to excavation, in 2004, of a water system belonging to the Saint-Jean en l’Isle commandery at Corbeil, located along the Hauldres brook on the edge of the Sénart forest. The system, comprising fountains, washing-places and mill-races, had been developed over a period of almost a thousand years.

The structures, dating from the medieval and modern periods, were established on the north-east facing slope of a hill in the direction of the brook. Excavation demonstrates that landscaping of the area was closely dependent upon water-management practices developed from the early medieval period. Analysis of the medieval water-system and archival material enable study of a small water-system within a valley over a period of at least a thousand years. The system corresponds, on a smaller scale, to those adopted by the great monastic houses. Apart from alterations to the washing-places during the 19th century, the system’s morphology barely changes until the present day.

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