The pond covers an area of 2,000 hectares and is shared between the communes of Marseillette, Aigues-Vives, Saint-Frichoux, and Puichéric. It once supplied the region with fish. As early as the 12th century, talk began of draining this stagnant body of water, a source of death and misery for Marseillette and the surrounding villages, which were becoming depopulated. In 1605, Henry IV issued a royal decree to drain the pond. But it wasn't until 1804, when it was purchased by an Irish woman, Madame de Lawless, that it was drained, thanks to a vast project. The pond was then cultivated and developed to utilize the waters of the Aude River, with an original irrigation system consisting of perpendicular canals allowing the flooding of the land. Today, vines, apples, and rice are the main crops grown there. Its calm and flat paths are very pleasant for hiking or cycling, in a typical landscape.
The dried-up pond of Marseillette is an atypical site in our region. To learn about and understand it, we must go back to the Tertiary period. At that time, the sea covered the area. As it retreated, it left ponds behind. This one must have been particularly important, as it would still exist if it hadn't been drained by humans during the 19th century. Irrigation canals run through the pond, giving it a unique character.
Today, the pond's main crops are vines, apples, and rice, crops celebrated at the annual Aigues-Vives fair in October. It is even said that the salt, always present underground, contributes to giving these products the subtle flavor that makes them unique... Near the Canal du Midi, its paths will lead you to the Aiguille Lock (Puichéric), a remarkable site where you can admire the sculptures of Joël Barthes. The Marseillette Pond ASA manages the maintenance work necessary for the proper functioning of the kilometers of irrigation canals and the Naudy tunnel. The pond covers the territory of the municipalities of Marseillette, Puichéric, Aigues-Vives, and Saint Frichoux. Drainage, First Period
In 1585, the first attempt to drain the 2,000 hectares of stagnant water, where mosquitoes, vectors of many diseases, were teeming, failed (due to wars).
In 1605, on the advice of Sully and Olivier de Serres, the first agricultural encyclopedist, the royal decree mandating the drainage of the pond was issued.
Work did not truly begin until 1628, under the reign of Louis XIII, advised by Richelieu. A trench running through Puichéric allowed the water to drain into the Aude River: this was the Rigole de l'Étang.
In 1638, Théophile Ranchin completed the drainage of this lower part of the basin, but maintenance of the canals was neglected and cultivation was abandoned following a plague epidemic and a war, and most of the land was once again flooded.
Between 1644 and 1647, the Ranchins built the Château de Fonfile on the banks of the pond, where they settled to oversee the simultaneous drainage and cultivation work.
The dried-up pond was partially cultivated, but a supply of fresh water other than rainwater would have been necessary to make the land truly cultivable.
In 1677, Daniel de Ranchin had virtually abandoned the pond.
In 1759, Roudil de Berriac, Lord of Ranchin and Mayor of Carcassonne, committed to draining the Marseillette Pond within eight years. In 1760, he obtained exclusive rights to drain the pond through a decree of King Louis XV's Council.
The pond was acquired in 1778 by an engineer and member of the Toulouse Academy of Sciences, Monsieur de Garipuy, who had traveled to Holland to study the drainage project. Upon his death, the pond was purchased by Madame Riquet de Caraman on behalf of the owners of the Canal du Languedoc.
In 1789, the pond became state property. Map of the Marseillette Pond Third Period
In 1804, the pond was resold on the condition that the drainage be completed within four years.
It was then acquired by Mrs. Lawless, an Irish woman. She had the Aiguille channel re-dug and widened and the Plains aqueduct rebuilt over three arches. Three other channels were opened inside the pond, together forming a length of 8,977 meters. These drainage channels are the ones that still exist today.
Mrs. Lawless had 18 farmsteads built on the 2,000 hectares.
In 1834, wheat, oats, and barley were harvested in the pond, but the owner was ruined.
In 1844, the estate was expropriated in favor of the French Mortgage Fund.
Saline efflorescence was killing the vegetation. Water was lacking; the land would have to be submerged to desalinate it. The idea was to divert some of the water from the Aude River, which flows two kilometers away, into the pond. But the Aude and the pond are separated by a plateau 30 to 45 meters high and this obstacle seems insurmountable.
Translated by Google •
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