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Origin and history

The Coutances aqueduct, erected in the 4th quarter of the 13th century, was intended to bring water from the fountain of the Scoulanderie to the Dominican convent and the city, crossing the valley of the Bruisard. Its construction, decided in 1277 under the impulse of Governor Foulques Pesnel, is attested by an act of Philippe le Hardi. The structure combined an underground section and an aerial part of 240 metres, divided into three sections: a carrying wall, sixteen arcades (five in the middle of the hangar, eleven in the third point) crossing the valley, and a second wall. The system probably used a siphon bridge to bring down the water from 125 m to 53 m above sea level, before ascending it to 92 m.

The lake was restored twice, in 1313 and then in 1566 after the fire of the convent by the Huguenots. It worked until the 17th century, before falling into ruins. In the 19th century Adolphe Joanne (1867) noted that eleven of the sixteen arches were already destroyed, leaving only three arches now visible. Ranked among historical monuments in 1840, its immediate environment was also protected by decree in 1939. Historical sources, such as those of Louis-François de Fontenu and Charles de Gerville, evoke a hypothetical Gallo-Roman aqueduct attributed to Constance Chlore, but no archaeological evidence confirms this theory.

The book illustrates medieval hydraulic techniques and the role of local governors in urban planning. Its structure, described by Robert Cenalis in Gallia historica, reveals an advanced mastery of engineering for the time. The successive restorations bear witness to its importance for the city, despite the destruction caused by religious conflicts (wars of Religion) and natural erosion. Today, it is a rare vestige of medieval water supply systems in Normandy, studied by historians such as Émile-Auber Pigeon or Eugene Lefèvre-Pontalis at the turn of the 20th century.

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