At Éclépens, a small village on the left bank of the Venoge river, there are vestiges of the Entreroches Canal left. Recently, important sanctuaries of the Helvetian were found on the Mormont hill.
The village of Éclépens at the foot of the Mormont hill, which vineyard is one of the oldest in Switzerland, is situated between the Jura foot and the Gros-de-Vaud district, at an altitude of 465m, on the left bank of the Venoge river.
Éclépens belongs to the district of Morges, which consists of 66 communes. Half of the territory of Eclépens is used for agriculture. It borders on the communes of Oulens and Daillens in the East, Lussery-Villars in the South, La Sarraz in the West and Orny and Bavois in the North.
The construction of the Entreroches Canal had been started in 1638. Its objective was to link the North Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. The project was developed by the Breton Elie Gouret and was of international importance. However, the canal was never built further than to Cossonay because of financial problems; about fifteen kilometres were missing. The project was definitely given up in 1829. Nowadays there are impressive vestiges left, such as the house of the ferryman.
In the forests of the Mormont hill important vestiges of a sanctuary of the Helvetii were found in 2006, dating back to the years between 120 and 80 B.C. It turned out to be a quite important discovery for the knowledge about the civilisation of the Helvetian. The place of discovery was recovered.
