The Source

But this was far from being the end of the story. Where exactly did the water come from? The Royal Commission on Historic Monuments for England in their Dorset Inventory thought that the Frome itself was tapped at Notton, near Maiden Newton. It took the first three years of excavation to prove that the source was not the Frome itself, but the small tributary in Church Bottom at Frampton.


Map of Dorchester Roman Aqueduct

This small stream was dammed at Littlewood Farm to form a lake at the head of the aqueduct. To the embarrassment of all subsequent excavators including the present one, this had first been suggested by W Miles Barnes in 1901! The dam still stands 2 metres high today, though it is partly masked by the deep silt present on the valley floor.

This gives a channel length of approximately 9km, though as the crow flies the distance to Dorchester is only 4.5km. The aqueduct follows the contours throughout, with no arcades as seen in continental aqueducts such as that at Nimes. The gradient averages 1:1750, though it is a little shallower at the Frampton end.


Aerial photograph of Giles Cross showing aqueduct- photo J Boyden

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