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Origin and history

The Roman aqueduct of Saints, including the section of Douhet, was built around the year 20 under the Julio-Claudian dynasty to supply Mediolanum Santorum (Saints) with drinking water. It supplied the thermal baths (Saint-Vivien, Saint-Saloine) and public fountains, with a journey combining tunnels, pipes and water bridges. Its operation ceased in the fourth century, and its stones were reused for other constructions. Today, only underground remains, two piles of the canal bridge, and battery bases remain, while water circulates in the open air on much of its route.

Three main sources fed the pipeline: Font Morillon (Fontcouverte), active since protohistory and channeled by the Romans in a semicircular basin of 3 m in diameter; Grand Font (Douhet), whose canal doubles that of Font Morillon without joining it; and the source of the Moulin (Venerand), exploited later. These sources, which were still active, were built with washbasins in the 18th to 19th centuries. Their initial flow rate was estimated to be between 3,000 m3 (Font Morillon) and 19,375 m3 (Douchet-Foundered addition) per day, reduced by limestone deposits at the end of exploitation.

Aqueduct is characterized by U or square pipes (60 cm deep, 30–40 cm wide), adapted to a minimum slope of 0.08–0.1%. Its 20 km route alternated underground galleries (crushed in the rock), open-air dalots, and water bridges, including a 160 m long and 20 m high near Fontcouverte. The Romans raised the funds of the second aqueduct (late I–early II century) to adapt it to the relief, without redoing the existing crossings. Remnants are exposed to the Archaeological Museum of Saintes, and recent excavations (since 2003) have revealed a third superimposed aqueduct.

Archaeological research began in the 18th century, with figures like Abel Triou, who reconstructed the complete route in 1968. Since 2012, a joint committee, DRAC and scholarly societies have been working to preserve and open to the public the remains. The limestone and alluvial deposits accumulated on the walls had halved the water flow at the end of use. The siphon system towards the thermal baths of Saint-Saloine (left bank), however, remains unlocalized.

The aqueduct illustrates Roman engineering in Saintonge, combining exploitation of natural faults (as in Grand Font, used from protohistory) and advanced construction techniques. Its abandonment in the fourth century coincided with the decline of Roman urban infrastructure. The sources, which were still active, were rearranged in the Middle Ages to feed castles or mills, then in the 18th to 19th centuries, showing a continuous hydraulic use over two millennia.

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