ECLUSE DE L’ORB ET PORT NEUF

Until 1858, the Canal du Midi had to cross the Orb. It is a capricious coastal river, sometimes too violent and sometimes too weak. After the Notre Dame lock, downstream from the old port of the same name, the canal had to reach the Orb. It is to avoid these often difficult constraints that the Canal du Midi was diverted from its original course at the level of the seventh basin of the water staircase of Fonséranes. The new, much larger port, which was simply called the Port Neuf, was put into service in 1858. The basin is surrounded upstream by the Orb lock and downstream by the Béziers lock.