Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Sept-Écluses de Rogny-les-Sept-Écluses form a set of seven adjacent locks, built in the 17th century to cross a 24 metre elevation on the Briare Canal. This work, originally designed by engineer Hugues Cosnier between 1604 and 1611, provided for six locks, to which a seventh was added later by the Compagnie des Seigneurs du canal. The locks, fed by the Saint-Privé channel dug in the seventeenth century, made it possible to connect the Loing to the Seine via a water-sharing bief.

Ranked a historic monument in 1983, the Seven Locks testify to the hydraulic engineering of the time. Their structure, composed of bricks and cut stones, includes airlocks expanded in the 19th century (30.40 x 5.20 m) and wooden doors operated by balancers. In 1887, a new route of the canal, with six separate locks, made this complex obsolete, now dried but preserved as a historical vestige. The House of the Controller, dated 1648, and the House of the Chief Guard (19th century) complete the site.

The site was a key point of the Briare Canal, inaugurated in 1642 under Henri IV and Sully, to facilitate river transport between the Loire and the Seine. Although replaced by more modern works, there remains a remarkable example of 17th century inland navigation techniques. Today, a green road runs along the dry bay, offering a tourist route linked to this industrial heritage.

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