The Lock Quarter

Ever since the Middle Ages, the small valley lying to the north of the hilltop of Neuchâtel Castle has borne the name of the Lock Quarter. Thus, the presence of a lock implies the presence of water, and nowadays it indeed stretches the mind to imagine that until 1843, a river ran along the small Lock valley and reached the lake by one of the main arteries of today's town : the street...of the Seyon, named as such to preserve the memory of the vanished river.

Just before the narrow bend made by the river at the level of the Parking... of the Seyon, a lock was put in to divert the water toward Mills Street where the Mills of the nobility were driven by the Seyon's hydraulic power.