Ansignan (France)

Roman aqueducts: Ansignan (France) Ansignan
For the photo's, see below
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The aqueduct bridge of Ansignan is a bridge located in the town of Ansignan in the Pyrenees-Orientales. It is part of an aqueduct spanning the river Agly used to irrigate crops on the opposite bank. It is built on the base of a Roman (viaduct) bridge, perhaps in the third century CE.

Section of the aqueduct bridge of Ansignan, southern France. Note that only a few remains of the bridge are of Roman origine.
The arrow indicates the direction of the water supply, encased in the channel on top of the bridge. In rouge the passage for pedestrians.

History

The origin and history of this aqueduct bridge - which withstood numerous floods - are uncertain. One of the charms of the bridge is its irregular construction; it was built during or even before Roman times, perhaps by the Volques Tectosages (1). The adjacent Roman road is well attested. This first bridge was completed by a second bridge to cross the Désix, tributary of the Agly, a few hundred meters downstream / south of the village (2). The local authorities of Ansignan indicate that the rubble (bricks or mortar?) of some arches are dated between 220 and 270 CE.

"Roman aqueduct"

We went to see the aqueduct, the one sight
of a surly village near the Pyrenees -

surky because there're Cathars? or because
they know they've tricked the visitors who write

the road-signs and the guide-books. It's not Roman
to my eyes - I would swear the man who bled

the river Agly at the valley head
and planted crops and married local women

were Arabs. Straggling back from Poitiers
they hid among these hills, remade their home

here under fruitful clouds and under dolmens
of long-forgotten Franks. Then their pretence

saved them, but still they hate the name of Rome.
They built the aqueduct, but they dare not say.

Alistair Elliot

With kind permission of the poet

Subsequently, an aqueduct was built over the original road bridge in the 9th century - turning it into a passage. This combined work was reworked many times, especially in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, extending the building to its contemporary dimensions.

Today, no significant archaeological discovery can explain the presence of this imposing structure in its current form. The aqueduct is still in service and allows the irrigation of the crops of the village of Ansignan, on the opposite bank of the Agly and the passage to cross.

The main purpose of the structure was to transport water for irrigation and / or drinking water to a villa estate. Remember: the name of Ansignan could have been derived from the name of an important Roman land-owner Ansinius with a villa in the area near the ancient mill S of Ansignan.

Caracteristics

The 170-meter aqueduct bridge is made up of 29 arches of increasing size as they approach the river, and with two different width. The two largest arches span the bed of the Agly at a height of 12 m. It is built on two levels: the first is a bridge for pedestrians, riders or small trolleys, and the upper level is an aqueduct still in use. The passage is 2,20 m wide, 5 m high and 55 m long. The second level is built above the first so that the first level looks like a tunnel or passage, lit by some windows on both sides. The aqueduct channel is about 1,0 m wide, 0,45 m deep and 170 m long.
For details of the 29 arches, see table below.

The water source was probably a river-tap, over 1 km upstream of l'Agly, of which no remains are left. The stream from the north has been divided into three channels. Just before the water reaches the bridge at the N-side, the supply is split: one part runs over the bridge after passing through a small basin (7,5 x 1,5 x 1,5 m); the other part is used to irrigate the land SW and S of the Garrigue de Roque Rouge. After passing the bridge the water channel takes a turn to the SE to water the Coudomines lands below Ansignan (see map). In former days there also should have been a branch NW of the bridge at the right side of the Agly river. At present an area of over 1,5 km2 is irrigated.

In modern times, a mill was installed along the river, against the bridge's left bank. This mill was transformed into an electric power plant, put into service in 1903 by Louis Abram. This plant supplied electricity to villages in the area. In 1949, the plant was nationalized as part of the national energy sector reform. It is now dismantled; its channels are now used as an overflow.

The internal upper parts of some arches (called intrados or soffit) are embellished with calcareous deposits, the result of cracks in the watertight plaster of the aqueduct channel above. Not surprisingly these phenomenon's occur in arches closest to the riverbed. Given the fact that the bridge is of old age, its foundations are still not 100% stable.


Wilke D. Schram
Mainly based on the text of a folder of the town of Ansignan and the French Wikipedia page on the same subject.

---------- -
1. Jean-Jacques Soulet, Ansignan, Pyrénées-Orientales : Le pont aqueduc et ses bâtisseurs, 2005
2. CHTS, Les routes du sud de la France : de l'Antiquité à l'époque romaine, Ministère de l'urbanisme, du logement et des transports, 1985,522 and 99



Measures of the arches

of the aqueduct bridge in Ansignan (France),
from the upstream side (NE, with basin, left bank of l'Agly) to downstream (SW, closest to Ansignan) side.
Note: every indicated height above 2.0 m is an estimate, so inaccurate!

Arches Length (m) Width (m) Height (m) Remarks
4x wide 3,5 2,1 1,8
13x high 2,1 2,2 1,0 - 2,0  
2x small 2,6 2,25 3,4 Both together are hollow
2 x high 2,0 2,0 5,0 On at least two places calcareous deposits on the intrados;
in between both: widening of the bridge body
2 x small 3,4 3,6 2,6
2 x huge n.i.a. n.i.a. n.i.a. Spanning the Aigly; part of the walk way; windows
2 x wide 6,4 3,1 4,0 Also part of the walkway; windows
2 x extra high 3,05 1,95 5,75 Support only the aqueduct channel;
also calcareous deposits on the intrados
n.i.a. = no information available
The aqueduct bridge of Ansignan, downstream view.

Ansignan

Item Info
Length Over 1 km
Cross-section
on bridge		 1,0 m x 0,45 m
Volume ? m3/day
Gradient ? %
Period 2nd c CE
(Modern)
Features
  • Combi bridge
    (pedestrian and aqueduct)
  • Splitting
  • Regulation basin
  • 3 sluice gates


Recommended literature :
  • H.-P. Eydoux1979 : Le pont-aqueduc d'Ansignan (in: Monuments méconnus Langedoc et Roussilon (1979) pag 351 - 355) - H.-P. Eydoux
Recommended websites   :
How to visit                  :      Some 45 km west of Perpignan (southern France)
HOME More literature on more aqueducts Last modified: August, 2018 - (webmaster)


Location
Section
Distant view
Platform

Before the sluice
Culvert
Basin
Two sluice gates

Regulation basin
Upstream view
Outlet of the basin
Water on the bridge

13 different arches
First four arches
2 + 2 + 2
Common compartment

Former stable?
River crossing
Upstream view
Passage

Lower end
Room with a view
Notable windows
Top view

(no) Branch?
Continuation
Platform
Overflow

Information panel
Roman origin?
Deposits
More deposits