River in France
The
Scarpe
(
French pronunciation:
[ska?p]
) is a river in the
Hauts-de-France
region of France. It is a left-bank tributary of the river Escaut (
Scheldt
). It is 94 km (58 mi) long.
[2]
[3]
The source of the river is at
Berles-Monchel
near
Aubigny-en-Artois
. It flows through the towns of
Arras
,
Douai
and
Saint-Amand-les-Eaux
. The river ends at
Mortagne-du-Nord
where it flows into the Scheldt.
Scarpe Mountain
in
Alberta
,
Canada
, was named after the river. The navigable waterway and its coal barges also feature in the novels by 19th century author
Emile Zola
.
[
citation needed
]
Navigation
[
edit
]
The river was made navigable by weirs and locks over about two thirds of its length (67 km (42 mi)),
[3]
divided into the Upper Scarpe (
Scarpe superieure
, 23 km, 9 locks) from Arras to
Courchelettes
,
[4]
the Middle Scarpe through Douai, and the Lower Scarpe (
Scarpe inferieure
, 36 km, 6 locks) from Douai to the Escaut.
[5]
[6]
The Middle Scarpe is no longer navigable, bypassed by the high-capacity
Canal Dunkerque-Escaut
.
History
[
edit
]
This river was navigated from the Escaut up to Douai as early as 638, but improvements with flash locks were required to give access to the important town of Arras, reached in 1613. This remained a shallow navigation, with locks of varying width and length, until it was improved to the
Becquey gauge
in the 1840s. The enlargement to
Freycinet gauge
was completed by about 1890. Today the Lower Scarpe is closed from the Douai junction to Saint-Amand-les-Eaux pending dredging and identification of a new owner and operator.
The river and its valley were
important battlegrounds
in the
First World War
. The valley of the Scarpe has been designated as a protected
Ramsar site
since 2020.
[1]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Scarpe
.