The Essonne river

The river runs for 98 km from Neuville-sur-Essonne (north-east of Orléans, Loiret) to the Seine (at Corbeil, Essonne).

In 1750, the project to link the Seine and Loire valleys, in order to facilitate navigation to supply Paris, was abandoned for lack of funds. Numerous water mills were set up along the river. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were still twenty in operation, but today only four remain. From the end of the 18th century, numerous industries have been set up along the Essonne to take advantage of its motive power: powder factories, spinning mills, leather tanneries, paper mills and a sugar refinery.

The Essonne flows through the communes of Buthiers, Boulancourt and Nanteau-sur-Essonne