Ports of the Loire

Published on 08 December 2016 - Updated 22 February 2017

The toponymy of the Loire Valley World Heritage site still demonstrates to this day how the river has been used, especially in terms of boarding boats. "Port Boulet", "Port Charbonnier", "Port Poisson", "Port Saint-Maur" and "Port Thibaut" demonstrate how the relationship to water and access to the river are omnipresent.
You may be surprised by the vast number of ports dotted along the course of the river. This a territory punctuated with distinctive landmarks. The amount of infrastructure illustrates how much the Loire was used: pervasive, intense and essential.

A reference scientific inventory

This exhibition is the outcome of a partnership bringing together Mission Val de Loire world heritage and the Heritage and Inventory Department of the Centre-Val de Loire Region. It is almost entirely the result of scientific work conducted by Valérie Mauret-Cribellier, a researcher in this department.

In 2005-2006, the Centre DREAL led an initial field survey of the slipways and quays of the Loire and its formerly navigated tributaries. Then, between 2008 and 2013, Valérie Mauret-Cribellier expanded upon this work using documents from the written and iconographic archives related to historical and documentary aspects. The sources taken advantage of include those kept in the National, Départemental and Municipal Archives' collections, in the Ecole nationale des Ponts-et-Chaussées and in the regional departments of the DREAL.

Resources
Bibliographie et documents

Naviguer sur la Loire

Au fil de l’eau de Nevers à Candes-Saint-Martin, le lecteur est invité à descendre le fleuve et à découvrir les différents aspects de la navigation et les ouvrages qui s’y attachent : ports, gares d’eau, bacs, marques de crues, bornes, digues submersibles… Doté d’une riche iconographie, ce livre ravira les amateurs et passionnés de la navigation en Loire et permettra à tous de découvrir les aménagements portuaires de la Loire qui constituent un patrimoine exceptionnel, marqueur de l’identité ligérienne, à protéger et mettre en valeur.

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