Poitiers is on the Clain river in west central France. The old town occupies the slopes and summit of a plateau which rises 130 feet (40 m) above the streams which surround it on three sides. There are quite a few bridges extant from the Medieval period: Pont Achard, on the Boivre, 1017; Pont Joubert, 1083; Pont Cyprien, on the Clain, 1101, and Pontneuf (or Pont de Rochereuil) to leading to the former Benedictine monastery of Montierneuf on the north side of the old town, 1087.