Valenciennes : première évaluation du patrimoine archéologique urbain

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to propose a tentative assessment of Valenciennes'urban archaeological inheritance, now studied and renovated according to a carefully planned urbanisation program. We shall hint at the origins of Valenciennes (portus Valencianis, at the confluence of the Rhônelle and Scheldt rivers) and the construction of the castrum in the second half of the Xth century. It is just outside the castrum and in the near vicinity of the ancient Carlovingian Portus, that the original economic centre grew in the first half of the XIth century : the Great Borough. The continuous progress experienced in a XIIth century marked by the development of housing, is at the origin of the erection of new and wider surrounding walls, protected by ditches. At the end of the XIIth century, Valenciennes has thus assumed the aspect it was to keep until our present time. The study offers an inventory of the major urban archaeological sites, classified under diverse headings (walls, religioux monuments, housing, river and bridges, dockside). It is completed by an archaeological map and a few illustrations about historical topography.