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20-588: It is on the River Thouet . Its inhabitants are known as Thouarsais . The Toarcian stage of the Jurassic takes its name from the town. Although there is evidence of human habitation here 5,000 years ago, it is only in the seventh century that the town appears in the historical record. In the 760s, Thouars found itself in Aquitaine , the most robust fortress in the entire region according to contemporary chroniclers. This

40-649: Is a tributary of the Loire in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Pays de la Loire regions of western France . The Thouet rises at Secondigny , close to the source of the Sèvre Nantaise , and joins the Loire just to the west of Saumur . It is 142.6 km (88.6 mi) long, and drains an area of 3,396 km (1,311 sq mi). The river's name derives from the ancient Gallic word for tranquil. The Thouet rises in

60-409: Is possible that boats were already carrying goods on the river before that date, the cargo being transferred between boats at each obstacle. King Charles VII authorised the start of work by letters patent , financing the work by allowing the lords of Montreuil-Bellay to raise a tax on wine that would pass through their land. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the passage through the weirs probably took

80-590: The Gâtine Vendéenne , the most southern outcrop of the Armorican Massif , at 225 metres (738 ft) altitude. The Armorican Massif is made up of volcanic and metamorphic rocks dating back to the Paleozoic era . This impermeable land does not result in any important aquifers but is an area of significant rainfall runoff. From the source to Parthenay the river flows in a generally east–west direction. To

100-632: The Morvan . To the north, its early strata match those of the bed of the English Channel and south-eastern England . Other boundaries lie on ridges in more recent deposits and scarps (escarpments). These include the Côte d'Or in the south-east (on an Alpine fault line ) and, at a north end, the Hills of ( French : Collines d' ) Artois which overlie the margin of London-Brabant Massif . Two notable oil fields are

120-604: The Seuil de Bourgogne (Threshold of Burgundy) differential erosion of the strata has left low scarps with the dip slopes towards the centre. The varying nature of the clays, limestones and chalk gives rise to the characteristics of the regions such as Champagne Humide (Damp Champagne), Champagne Pouilleuse (poor Champagne), the Pays de Caux and the Pays de Bray . Due to the millions of years of later deposition, erosion and other changes since, five drainage basins today drain almost all of

140-708: The Variscan orogeny (Hercynian orogeny). The sedimentary basin , no longer a single drainage basin , is a large sag in the craton , bordered by the Armorican Massif to the west, the Ardennes-Brabant axis to the north, the Massif des Vosges to the east, and the Massif Central to the south. The region usually regarded as the Paris Basin is rather smaller than the area formed by the geological structure. The former occupies

160-676: The Basin. These are two flowing north, the basins/specified parts of basins as follows: And three flowing west, the: The Paris Basin is a geological basin of sedimentary rocks . It overlies geological strata folded by the Variscan orogeny. It forms a broad shallow bowl in which marine deposits from throughout periods from the Triassic to the Pliocene were laid down. Their extent generally decreases with time. Based on analysis of fossils recognized in

180-513: The Thouet, downstream of the confluence with the Dive. A third modern lock was built at the same time on the Thouet, but upstream from the confluence of the Dive. These locks had dimensions of 32 m (105 ft) length, 5.20 m (17.1 ft) width, and a draught of 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in). However the new navigation soon faced competition from better roads and the railway, which appeared in

200-667: The basin's strata during the 1820s and 1830s, the pioneering geologist Charles Lyell divided the Tertiary into three ages he named the Pliocene, the Miocene and the Eocene . To the west, the strata folded by the Variscan rise below the more recent marine deposits in the hills of Brittany and, to the east, the Ardennes , Hunsrück and Vosges . To the south, the basin borders on the Massif Central and

220-428: The centre of the northern half of the country, excluding Eastern France. The latter extends from the hills just south of Calais to Poitiers and from Caen to the brink of the middle Rhine Valley, east of Saarbrücken . The landscape is one of very broad valleys ( flood plains ), modest watershed hills and well-drained plateaux of comparatively little altitude. In the south-east and east the plain of Champagne and

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240-560: The coast. Aimery IV of Thouars was a companion of William the Conqueror as a commander in the Battle of Hastings . In Angers in 1199, Guy of Thouars married Constance of Brittany to become Duke of Brittany jure uxoris , and after the death of Constance, Regent of Brittany for her daughter Alix of Thouars . In 1372 the English were expelled from the town by Bertrand du Guesclin . Thouars

260-474: The east of Parthenay, the river turns north and flows on a generally northward heading for the rest of its course. Between Saint-Loup-Lamairé and Thouars , the river flows onto the Paris Basin , an area of sedimentary rocks where successive marine deposits of periods from the Triassic to the Pliocene were laid down. The nature of the rocks here allows the formation of an aquifer whose water reserves support

280-509: The fiefdom for more than five centuries until the end of the fourteenth century. The earliest of these Viscounts of Thouars for whom information survives is Geoffrey I, known as the founder of the Thouars dynasty. Located at the south of Anjou and at the frontier with Aquitaine, the Viscountcy of Thouars became a rich fiefdom with a strategic location extending from Upper Poitou all the way to

300-529: The form of flash locks . The later pound lock may have been introduced towards the end of the 16th century, and it is known that three pound locks were in use on the river by 1608. A project to make the river navigable up to Thouars was proposed in 1746 but was never executed. The Dive , a tributary of the Thouet, was canalised in 1834 to create the Canal de la Dive . As part of this development, two modern pound locks with straight sides and mitred gates were built on

320-464: The region in 1874. The maximum boat size imposed by the locks proved insufficient, and a proposed enlargement to the larger Freycinet gauge was never realized. The last commercial navigation on the river was in 1920. Paris Basin The Paris Basin ( French : Bassin parisien ) is one of the major geological regions of France . It developed since the Triassic over remnant uplands of

340-607: The river in times of low flow. In order downstream, the Thouet flows through: The principal tributaries of the River Thouet are: For much of its length, the Thouet is paralleled by the GR 36 long-distance walking route , which connects Ouistreham , on the coast of the English Channel , with Bourg-Madame , on the border with Spain . This stretch of the path traces the footsteps of pilgrims from Brittany and Normandy on their way to Santiago de Compostela , and in places crosses

360-486: The river using the same fords , packhorse bridges and stepping stones the pilgrims would have used. The Thouet was once navigable between its confluence with the Loire and Montreuil-Bellay. The first mention of navigation on the river dates from 1430 when an assembly of merchants in Saumur suggested the creation of a navigation over this stretch of the river, requiring the creation of passages through three mill weirs . It

380-592: Was a violent decade as Duke Waïfre , struggling to preserve the independence of Aquitaine, fought against the expansionist ambitions of the French King, Pepin the Short . In 762, accompanied by his son, the future Charlemagne , appeared outside Thouars. He destroyed the Gallo-Roman town and torched the castle. In the ninth century the first of a line of viscounts took charge of Thouars: he and his successors would control

400-459: Was the birthplace of the medieval general Louis de La Trémoille , created duke by Charles IX in 1563. In 1619 his heir Henri de La Trémoille married Marie de la Tour d'Auvergne , sister of Turenne . She razed the old gothic château-fort to build the present château . Thouars was the birthplace of: Thouars is also the final resting place of: Thouars is twinned with: Thouet The Thouet ( French pronunciation: [twɛ] )

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