Old water pump Placette Walter Ravez - Tournai

In the Tournai of yesteryear , dozens of wells provided the city with water.

Before 1905, the history of water was far from smooth. According to an archaeologist, Tournai benefited from the commissioning of a Roman aqueduct to supply it with water. During the Middle Ages, many wells were built in the city...

Rome conquered Tournai around 50 BC and made it the archetype of its way of life. For its daily needs and industry it needed water healthier than that of the river. Archaeologist Marcel Amand's hypothesis - and it is a likely hypothesis - that the Romans built an aqueduct is very tempting.
December 1960: the earthworks on the rue de la Tête d'Or were in progress and excavations were also being carried out. Here a pipe 0.45 m wide and 1.45 m high was discovered, with 0.45 m walls of graded local rubble, bound with pink mortar, all resting on the sandy clay layer. The pipe runs along an axis of four meters in the direction of Koningin Astridplein.

Marcel Amand followed the route outside the city, to the Rieux source in Orcq , which he exchanged for the Rieu de Barges. The water from the latter, via Esplechin, Froidmont and Willemeau, would enter the city via the Place Astrid over a distance of 11.6 km, with a slope of 2.19 per km and a possible flow of thirty thousand m3/day.
This discovery was supplemented by other precise and consistent finds that showed that Tournai was equipped in the first and second centuries with a remarkable network of pipes supplying the neighborhoods on both banks of the river. Wells, water reservoirs, hypocausts, thermal baths, etc. were constructed along the way.

It is not known when the Roman aqueduct disappeared , as no remains of it have been found outside the city. In the absence of documents, archaeologists believe that Tournai, like the Romans, started drilling wells, despite the stony surface, which led to a number of neglects.

In 1838 there were 58 public pumps and 13 closed wells on the city's territory. By the 19th century at the latest, 58 wells had been covered and their casings demolished, but they were equipped with cast iron pumps of various models . These delivered the water through a suction pipe to the user via their piston and the arm that operated it. No more cranks, the bucket was lifted and placed on the flat stone of the curb, and no more danger to the users.

Willem Vandenameele