Travel Guide Chaillé-Les-Marais

Chaillé-les-Marais has been inhabited since Gallo-Roman times, and has played the role of capital of the dried marshes since the middle of the 17th century. Man has shaped this landscape: dykes, large areas of arable land, and numerous canals that still regulate the water. One of them, located in Sainte-Radegonde, and built in the 12th century is called the Canal des Cinq Abbés - named after the abbots of Saint-Michel, Absie, Saint-Maixent, Nieul and Maillezais. All this land reclaimed from the sea required stone and wood constructions: the locks, still called "sea gates" or "flood gates", whose mechanism dates back to the 12th century. They collect and lead the water from the marshes to the sea. This is the case of the Clain lock, on the canal of the same name in Sainte-Radegonde. The arches are small stone bungs at the crossing of two canals, attached to small wooden valves. A pathway allows you to enjoy the raised dikes bordering the canals, and the Dutchman's Belt allows you to admire a vast landscape. The ditches adjacent to the Belt, called "counterbooths", are used to channel excess rainwater. The village has preserved interesting elements such as the chimney and its bread oven of the tourist office, or in the streets with names preserved from the revolutionary period such as the rue de l'An-VI, wells of the 18th century whose ogive shape is representative of the region. For the anecdote, one of them is nicknamed the "Puits de la Crotte"; the origin of the name speaks for itself!