Fleury, Aude

Salles-d'Aude (French pronunciation: [sal dod] ; Occitan: Salas d'Aude) is a commune in the Aude department in southern France.

Armissan (French pronunciation: [aʁmisɑ̃] (listen); Occitan: Armissan) is a commune in the Aude department in the Occitanie region of southern France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as Armissannais or Armissannaises

Lespignan (French pronunciation: [lɛspiɲɑ̃]; Occitan: Lespinhan) is a commune in the Hérault département in the Occitanie region in southern France. Experiencing a Mediterranean climate, it is drained by the Aude River and various other small streams. The commune boasts a remarkable natural heritage: three Natura 2000 sites (the "Lower Plain of the Aude," the "Lower Course of the Aude," and the "Hills of Narbonnais"), two protected areas (the "Lower Plain of the Aude and Collines d'Enserune" and the "Lower Plain of the Aude"), and eight natural areas of ecological, faunal, and floristic interest. Lespignan is a rural commune with 3,355 inhabitants in 2022, having experienced a significant population increase since 1962. It is located within the Lespignan urban area and is part of the Béziers catchment area. Its inhabitants are called Lespignanais or Lespignanaises.

Nissan-lez-Enserune (French pronunciation: [nisɑ̃ lez‿ɑ̃seʁyn]; Occitan: Nissa d'Ausseruna, Niça d'Ausseruna), also spelled Nissan-lez-Ensérune, is a French commune in the department of Hérault, region of Occitania, situated just south of Béziers. Its inhabitants are called Nissanais in French.

Vinassan (French pronunciation: [vinasɑ̃] (listen); Occitan: Vinaçan) is a commune in the Aude department in southern France.

The canton of Les Basses Plaines de l'Aude (before 2015: canton of Coursan) is an administrative unit in the Aude department, southern France. Its seat is in the town Coursan. The canton consists of 6 communes: Armissan Coursan Cuxac-d'Aude Fleury Salles-d'Aude Vinassan

Coursan (French pronunciation: [kuʁsɑ̃] (listen); Occitan: Corçan) is a commune in the Aude department in southern France. Coursan station has rail connections to Narbonne, Béziers and Montpellier. It is 7 km from Narbonne on the river Aude. There is a bridge built in the fifteenth century, over which passes the RN9 road. The town has a church from the same period which is in the course of being restored. Composer Henry Fourès was born in Coursan (17 May 1948)

The Malpas tunnel carries the Canal du Midi under the d'Ensérune hill in Hérault, France. Excavated in 1679, it was Europe's first navigable canal tunnel and is a monument to the determination of Pierre-Paul Riquet, the chief engineer. It is located in the commune of Nissan-lez-Ensérune near to the archaeological site Oppidum d'Ensérune. There was great disappointment when the works reached the hill d'Ensérune. A few metres of digging in hard rock revealed a very brittle sandstone subject to slippage. Colbert, the prime minister, halted the works when he was made aware of the situation. The portal was blocked and the workings re-sited. Riquet's detractors took advantage of this situation to impede the project. Colbert announced that he would send royal commissioners to decide the canal's future. The advice of the Chevalier de Clerville, architect to Louis XIV, was to cross the river Aude rather than tunnel through the hill. Riquet, however, maintained his preference for a tunnel because of the extra problems that crossing the Aude would create. Riquet's response was to ask his master mason, Pascal de Nissan, to continue tunneling in secret despite the risk of collapse. In less than eight days, the tunnel was complete with a concrete ceiling throughout. The tunnel is 165m long with an arch 8m above the canal's surface, and removed the necessity for an extra lock. By the time the Malpas Tunnel was excavated in the seventeenth century, the hill had already for several centuries been the site of a tunnel, dug in the Middle Ages, to drain the Étang de Montady. This pre-existing tunnel is said to have been Riquet's inspiration for the Malpas Tunnel. In the nineteenth century, a third tunnel was excavated, passing through the Hill d'Ensérune beneath the Malpas tunnel to house the Béziers to Narbonne railway line.

The Oppidum d'Ensérune is an ancient hill-town (or oppidum) near the village of Nissan-lez-Ensérune, France, located between Béziers and Narbonne close to the D609 (formerly RN9) and Canal du Midi. It has been listed since 1935 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture. The settlement was occupied without interruption between the 6th century BC and 1st century AD on a hill with good views over the coastal plain, being close to the Via Domitia, the Montady lake, and fertile agricultural land below. There is a museum on the site which offers a display of some of the finds on the site, as well as giving more information about the fort and the field system. Below the oppidum was the swamp of Montady, (centred on 43°19′12″N 3°07′24″E ), which is now wedge shaped fields separated by irrigation ditches that converge in the centre. In the 13th century, the swamp was drained; the ditches allowed water to flow to the centre of the circular depression, from which it was conveyed through underground pipes several kilometres to the south. The drainage is still functional and remains in use.

Colombiers (French pronunciation: [kɔlɔ̃bje] ; Occitan: Colombièrs) is a commune in the Hérault department in southern France.

Coursan is a railway station in Coursan, Occitanie, southern France. Within TER Occitanie, it is part of line 21 (Narbonne–Avignon).

The Étang de Montady (English: "pond of Montady") is a drained endoreic pond or lagoon, is now more accurately a former freshwater wetland, located near Montady and Colombiers, midway between Béziers and Narbonne in the western department of Hérault in southern France.