7^th Symposium "Conservation of monuments ..",Water and Cultural Heritage, 6/9 June 2007

 

The issue of fluvial heritage conservation,

in its natural context, involving archaeological, ethnologic and architectural issues,

in the Basse Loire Angevine et Armoricaine

 

Philippe Cayla, agrégé de Géographie, Enseignant chercheur honoraire, Université d'Angers

 

A societal fluvial heritage - until recently “hidden” - that needs to be protected

 

Knowledge of the Loire fluvial heritage has increased considerably in the last thirty years. Research in this field, which when it began was rooted more or less in folk history, was mostly inspired by heritage issues; yet it has resulted in new archaeological, ethnologic and technical discoveries, with direct bearing on the historical, spatial and environmental context. The scientific approach has become geo-anthropologic. It is based on a comprehensive appreciation of the fluvial and riverside heritage in its natural setting, involving exploration in situ, made possible by the collection of selected items for detailed study.

This "hidden" fluvial heritage, consisting of as many wrecks as solid structures, began to be revealed by anthropogenic erosion of the sandy river bed in the mid XX^th century. Sand extraction and man-made modification of the river and shipping channel opened an "archaeological window" onto the bed of the Loire, which then became accessible at low water level. Part of this archaeological heritage – the solid fixed constructions and wrecks – is still where it was; part of it has been removed – the prehistoric lithic tools, neolithic fire place and domestic items, bronze age megaliths, for instance, and a multitude of thousands-of-years-old ceramics. The list of remains is long: we have fragments of primitive logboats and assembled boats; fixed medieval works (groynes and dykes) of the minor bed, where wrecks of Loire barges (dating from the XVI^th to the XIX^th century) are piled up one on top of the other... all of this mingling with the present-day vestiges of bridge decks destroyed during the war. Added to these are the levees (dating from the XII^th to the XIX^th centuries), of which little is known about the structure and archaeological foundations.

 

Knowledge and typology of the Loire river boat have been extended and enriched by river archeology; most of the finds and collections that exist are housed in the Loire Angevine open air museum at Montjean sur Loire ("Ecomusée de Montjean Loire Angevine") ; these have been the subject of attentive study by François Beaudouin, former curator of the "Musée de la Batellerie de Conflans Sainte Honorine". It is thanks to this work that we have logboats, once used by Gallo-Roman and medieval peasant fisherman – boats as diverse in their form as in their function – and medieval scutes (both heavy working river boats and lighter transport boats).

 

The revelation – or rather the transformation of our conception of this heritage – is the result of a changed outlook, a new interpretation of objects which, intrinsic to the life of former Loire river users, were part of an all-too-familiar landscape. The recently disarmed work boats of the XX^th have also taken their place in the floating river heritage fleet. The ports, slipways and quays of the XIX^th century, which until recently attracted no interest whatsoever, have in the space of a few years been promoted to historical monuments, thus becoming guardians of a part of navigational history, as well as the stage for the new cultural and recreational role of the river. The rural and riverside industry heritage, the hemp-growing landscapes, the freestone quarries ("tuffeau"), the slate quarries, the collieries and the lime kilns in the Basse Loire, also have their place in the fluvial and river boatman systemic.

The societal heritage now stands on a par with the chateaux and historical monuments that have seen the cultural landscape of the Val de Loire inscribed by Unesco as a World Heritage site.

 

The issue of heritage, the need to preserve our cultural inheritance, makes the safeguarding of this site indispensable. As for the collections that already exist, these have a museographic function, which makes a carefully reasoned approach to their conservation essential. The entire cultural legacy, with its large network of sites, inevitably raises the question of harmony between cultural and tourist interests, and therefore of local and regional development.

Any attempt to interpret this cultural heritage should start with the former systemic functionality of the river itself; this heritage is found in the traces that remain today of the various river activities of former times; river based activities that were all closely interlinked. They come to us in the form of peasant fishermens’ logboats, fishing weirs (archaeological vestiges of which have been found), or the wreck of a sailing barge, which we can examine in the light of port architecture thankfully still standing today. The river itself – this receptacle of archaeological deposits – plays an active role in the heritage issue; this hydrosystem inter-reacts with the human and anthropological interests that surround it… is capable of falsifying samples and impeding modern efforts to manage the river.

Thanks to palynology, the palaeoenvironmental, bioclimatic, hydro-geomorphologic and agricultural contexts allow us to make sense of the archaeological data available.

 

Conservation issues, therefore, are not limited simply to a series of physical objects, such as the water-logged wood of a wreck, or the ruined slipway of a port. Conservation only makes sense when it embraces the whole entity: the physical territory itself – formerly functional and functioning – and the chain of actions that seek to enhance the value of this heritage. It is not enough simply to restore the wreck of a logboat, however fine a specimen; we need also to reinforce the fishing weir that gave it its usefulness; and we need to restore the fluvial environment (sadly deteriorated) to its former state of equilibrium.

Achieving this depends on the following conditions being met: having access to thorough knowledge of the fluvial cultural heritage, which has been broadly defined; a structured, institutional approach to the preservation of heritage, entrusted to competent associations and researchers; the creation of museographic facilities and workshops, with a central base in the Loire basin area; a partnership between regions, involving Conservationists, Regional Parks, Plan Loire funds, etc.

This conservation project, which would enhance the rich fluvial and cultural heritage we share in the Loire river, could possibly be achieved with the concerted support of such bodies as the Val de Loire Mission (Mission Val de Loire) and the International Rivers and Heritage Institute (l'Institut International Fleuves et Patrimoine), with its scientific committee. The UNESCO World Heritage status of this site surely of itself confirms the importance of this project.

Amongst the conservation problems associated with the Loire fluvial cultural heritage

 

- Finds and discoveries, restoration of the wreck of the Loire boat

 

. problem of the abundance of wrecks still in situ, vulnerable to erosion and breaking apart during floods; the numerous fragments that have been recovered and temporarily safeguarded, pieces of wood more or less waterlogged

 

. storage of dozen or so pieces of wood from wrecks in holding containers since 1995 by the former Loire Angevine open air museum at Montjean with the help of the Regional Archeology Service (SRA - Service Régional d'Archéologie) - Regional Cultural Affairs Directorate (DRAC - Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles) in Nantes

. the immersion of wrecks placed in crates, in a sand quarry at Sainte-Luce prior to Nantes, carried out by the SRA, after samples were taken for safekeeping and storage in containers by the ARRA.

. dismantling of an important wreck carried out by the Loire Angevine open air museum at Montjean.

. samples of small logboat wrecks or of scattered pieces from an assembled boat - statistically, the most frequent occurrence.

. treatment of waterlogged wood, for isolated small to medium sized pieces (4 m): by impregnation with polyethylene glycol - resin pushing out the water with its density and polymerising in the wood. The Dukes of Brittany Castle Museum in Nantes has shown the way forward for one aspect (the sides and bottom) of a dugout boat of the XIII^th century.

. reinforcement of wood with superficial desiccation: the procedure of impregnation with glue and clay to stabilise growth rings in wood that are in danger of rupturing, has been successfully tested at the open air museum at Montjean, reinforcing the piece of wood.

 

For all these situations, studies and experiments need to be undertaken, with the help of laboratories, such as "Arc'Antique" in Nantes.

 

- Conservation of the "boat beneath the roofs"

 

the "boat beneath the roofs”: the re-use of wood from dismantled boats as timber in riverside houses, most often the houses of bargemen. The problem of conservation is related to the building the timbers are used in (architectural evolution, housebreaker's yard and removing).

 

- Discovery and conservation of former solid constructions on the bed of the Loire, relevant to the restoration of the river

 

. river management in the form of ancient groynes for fish weirs, dams for mills and (more rarely) toll barriers - used by specialised boats (occasionally found on the spot or nearby) ; this works in evidence on a scale of one every 1200m on average, still play a structuring role in the alluvial mass.

. question of the conservation of these structures, today partly dismantled, the foundations exposed by the mining of sand and more or less covered by the current.

. solution - infilling with sand brought by the floods, with the progressive re-creation of former levels helping raise the waterline; in progress, with the removal of sand no longer occurring in the minor bed of the river (total ban in 1994) ; architectural repairing.

. these "geo-archaeological" observations show the technical way forward as regards a "non heavy-handed" approach to management of levels of the Loire.

 

- Question of the restoration, renovation and re-use of "floating" boats, last testimony to the navigational past of the Loire

 

- Barges made of iron since the end of the XIX^th century, self-propelled barges from between the two wars, specialised barges, oil tankers and post-war sand-dredgers, today partly scrap.

 

- Two restored period boats:

."Condorcet", Nantes barge dated 1902, registered Historical Monument, restored on the initiative of the Batellerie bretonne de Redon Museum, rehabilitation work project with ATAO in Nantes.

."Cap-Vert", dated 1928, self-propelled 32m barge from Loire et Mayenne, preserved and classed a Historical Monument by the Loire Angevine open air museum at Montjean, restored by the Esclain boatyard in Nantes on the initiative of the District of Montjean.

 

Less than the technical restoration, which favours welding in preference to riveting for the replacement of metal plates in the sides and the bottom, the restriction encountered is in the re-use of boats on the water for heritage purposes. The problem is regulatory, especially regarding safety standards and conditions of re-use, a particular difficulty being the provision of an adequate survey (case of the "Cap-Vert").

 

. problem of the "Auguste-Paul" (1910) which became the "Saint-Maurille" : a Nantes barge made of iron, emblematic of the Montjean waterways lime burner, to be conserved.

 

Renovation/restoration of the Loire ports - navigational monuments

 

. numerous ports and Loire façades, both urban and village, which long ago provided an interface between the bargeman on the river and the riverside landscape

. port modules - slipways and quays - built for the most part between 1840 and 1880, with slightly sloped paving embedded in a base of sandy alluvium; in the process of falling into ruin, fluvial erosion exposing the foundations of the rip-raps (loose stone wall) of the quays, breaking up the slipway paving, squeezing out the moveable parts, causing the port structure to collapse.

. regional restoration (Pays de la Loire, then Centre region, with grants), about 50 operations completed or in progress, with leading part of "Conservatoire regional des rives de la Loire et de ses affluents".

 

Question of the restoration of the levees

 

. longitudinal steel sheeting at the heart of the levee and rip-rap consolidation of the base on the Loire side, work still in progress

. one can only deplore the fact that this work is not accompanied by an organised archaeological study of the structure of the levee and by excavations of its base prior to preventive rip-rap consolidation (to study the various construction piles, the different wrecks, rubbish dumps, habitats, etc.).

 

Philippe CAYLA 11 Quai des Mariniers ; 49570 MONTJEAN sur Loire  Tel. 02 41 39 06 31 philippe.cayla.88.49@wanadoo.fr ; Agrégé de Géographie, enseignant chercheur honoraire Université d'Angers, Président de l'Association patrimoine culturel Loire.

 

 

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