Coulon, Small Cities of Character® and capital of Green Venice

The capital of Green Venice

Located along the northern shore of Gulf of Pictons, between plain and marsh, this ancient Gallo-Roman colonial estate operated by coloni (free agricultural workers, but linked to the land) becomes 11th century a large rural town anchored along the Sèvre Niortaise whoseport activity is intense from the Middle Ages to the 19th century between Niort and the ocean. Le seigniorial castle (noble house located rue du Four rebuilt in the 18th century and partly demolished in the 20th century), located opposite the apse of the church, protects the river cabotage connecting the villages on the banks of the Sèvre and the four strongholds of Coulon. In the 16th century, these possessions were acquired successively by the Lord Pelot thus carving out a quasi-autonomous domain within the centuries-old castellany of Benet. THE arm of the Sèvre original, named the Dyve, which winds its way to the outskirts of the east church channeled in the 19th century, thus moving the river away from the town. To allow farms to maintain direct access to water, ditches are dug by residents. But, for the sake of hygiene, they were replaced by alleys and new neighborhoods were built up to the Sèvre front. The history of this city of character and that of the Marais are presented in the old house of custom (taxation of the transport of goods up the river under the Ancien Régime). How was the Gulf of Pictons? what is a batai? Why the eel is the king animal of the wet marsh? All these questions are answered in pictures in this ecomuseum!

Small Towns of Character®

The village of Coulon is labeled Small Town of Character since 2015. This distinction rewards towns with less than 5000 inhabitants with remarkable historic, rural and urban buildings. Coulon now sets itself the ambition of safeguard, restore, maintain its heritage, highlight it, animate it and promote it among residents and visitors. The municipality also holds the national label Villes et Villages Fleuris (two flowers).

What to see in Coulon?

01. The House of the Marais Poitevin, an essential place to discover the Marais Poitevin

Le wet marsh is not just a landscape. This sector of Poitevin marsh which is often called the Green Venice reveals itself differently, thanks to the visit to the House of the Marais Poitevin (formerly Maison des Marais Mouillés). We understand the evolution of the territory and the attachment of market gardeners to their marsh. In just over an hour's visit, you will be able to discover our traditions through a pleasant and accessible museography.

The House of the Marais Poitevin is located on the banks of the Sèvre, in the heart of the village of Coulon. It took place in a historic place: the house of Custom. The custom was a tax paid by boatmen who traveled with goods on the river. It was used to maintain the locks and the waterway. Visiting the ecomuseum:

Rooms to visit – The House of the Marais Poitevin has three permanent exhibition rooms and one temporary exhibition room. Each room sheds particular light on the marsh.
The market garden interior – The interior of a market garden house from the end of the 19th century has been reconstructed. It will reveal to you the ingenuity of market gardeners to adapt to a sometimes hostile environment.
The Eel Room – An entire room is devoted to the eel, the emblematic fish of the marsh, and its endangered fry: the glass eel. Its migration and the different fishing techniques used in the marsh will no longer hold any secrets for you.
The boathouse room – Batais, market garden boats, were the traditional means of transport for men and animals in the labyrinth of channels and conches of the marsh. The room recreates the atmosphere of a carpenter's workshop and the construction of flat-bottomed boats. You will discover the importance of batai through its multiple uses.

The Maraiscope: a highlight of the visit ! Let yourself be told the story of Poitevin marsh in front of a 15 m2 model. Everything comes together to make the discovery come alive and educational: video projection, lighting effects, dialogues, sound effects, etc. In 20 minutes, the main stages of the constitution of the Poitevin marsh are traced. This vast territory was first an inland sea before finding itself caught between two waters: those of the rivers of the watershed on one side and those of the ocean on the other. The history of this landscape is twofold. It is both the story of a natural phenomenon and that of man's work. This work, undertaken 10 centuries ago, made it possible to accentuate the retreat of the ocean and to calm down the rivers. The land flooded with water has become a vast nourishing garden.

02. Holy Trinity Church

The priory church was founded in 830 by the abbey of Charroux, then attached to the abbey of Nieul-sur-l'Autize and placed under the surname of Saint-Sauveur. Often looted by the Normans, it is rebuilt in the 11th century and received the name Holy Trinity at the end of the 12th century. In the 15th century, the monument was partly rebuilt, then burned down in 1569 by the Huguenots. Its bell tower was rebuilt in 1671. The building was remodeled in the 19th century and class Mhistorical monument.
To have : false exterior preacher and funerary liter from the 18th century due to the lord of Coulon Jean-Gabriel Simon Berthelin de Montbrun.

A charming squat, peasant church
The capital of Green Venice nestles close to its heart a charming squat, peasant church built in 830, perhaps originally made of wood, on a platform composed of sand and gravel, between the Sèvre Niortaise and the Dive, at one meter above the water. It is placed under the name of Saint-Sauveur by the abbot of Charroux (Vienne). Often plundered by the Normans, it was rebuilt in the 1154th century. Between 1211 and XNUMX, the sanctuary was attached to the abbey of Nieul-s.-l'Autise (Vendée) and was dedicated to the Holy Trinity.

An architectural puzzle
The church was partly rebuilt in the 1992th century. (south nave and side door). In the XNUMXth century, the Niort architect Pierre-Théophile Segrétain undertook work in a composite Poitevin style: Romanesque for the sanctuary with a flat apse and Gothic for the triple nave in the style of the south aisle dating from the XNUMXth century. The building was classified as a historic monument in XNUMX.

The outdoor preacher: a pure journalistic invention!
In ancient times, an exterior oratory was built to allow the Maraîchins to attend the service without getting off the boat, at the time when the town was cut with canals. In fact, it is a pure journalistic invention peddled at the time of the opening of the tourist office in 1950. The pseudo-preaching tower is quite simply a tower with an awning replacing a removable ladder which was attached to the building to be able to sound the tocsin without entering the church. Unpractical and risking causing accidents, it was replaced by the staircase tower, the upper part of which was, before 1733, accessible by a ladder, because 13 steps were missing!

The funeral liter
This black band was painted in the 1776th century, under the ballet, during the death of Marie-Charlotte de Belleville, mother of the lord of Coulon, Jean-Gabriel Simon Berthelin de Montbrun. Until XNUMX, the high-justice lords had the right to be buried in churches. The funeral liter recalls this right to mourn. It features the coats of arms of several related families: those of Belleville, de la Rochebrochard, de Lusignan de Saint-Gelais, de Berthelin and du Breuil.

03. The Sotterie dam-lock

Navigable for 54 km, the Sèvre Niortaise flows into the Atlantic Ocean via the Bay of Aiguillon. The entire market garden hydraulic network is organized around this small coastal river. Until the arrival of the railway, ocean-going ships, loaded with goods, sailed to Marans (Charente-Maritime). The barges, long flat-bottomed boats, took over until Niort by crossing 9 lock dams : Les Enfreneaux, le Carreau d’Or, Bazoin, les Bourdettes, la Sotterie, le Marais Pin, la Tiffardière, la Roussille and Comporté.

The current structures were built between 1862 and 1872. The green ones, located on the navigable network, are the property of the DDE monitoring the river level and the blue ones belong to the wet marsh unions governing the adjacent networks (rills and conches). Two water body heights are defined for each reach (part of a river between two locks and ensuring the maintenance of a sufficient water line for navigation), i.e. an upper water level threshold for the rainy seasons and lower for the hot season. They thus make it possible to reconcile public (inland shipping) and private (agriculture) interests. In 2013, the public river domain was transferred to the Interdepartmental Institution of the Sèvre Niortaise Basin which is the mechanic of the Poitevin marsh. Located on the road from Coulon to Arcais (former towpath), the Sotterie dam-lock, classified as a fishing reserve, East restored in 2006.

Other curiosities to see:

The alleys of old Coulon
The Louis Tardy quay from the XNUMXth century
The Saveurs du Marais cannery in the old dairy
The house with blue shutters

Major events not to be missed in Coulon

The Mijet festival

The Mijet Festival, has been running again since 2023 and will now take place on the first weekend in July. This party is a nostalgic return to the past which traced over the water market garden life of yesteryear through various scenes of daily atmospheres.