Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T06:23:55.145Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Wells and Bucket-Chains: Unforeseen Elements of Water Supply in Early Roman London

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2010

Ian Blair ,
Robert Spain ,
Dan Swift ,
Tony Taylor  and
Damian Goodburn
Ian Blair
Affiliation:
MoLAS, London, [email protected]
Robert Spain
Affiliation:
MoLAS, London, [email protected]
Dan Swift
Affiliation:
MoLAS, London, [email protected]
Tony Taylor
Affiliation:
MoLAS, London, [email protected]
Damian Goodburn
Affiliation:
MoLAS, London, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Excavations by MoLAS at 30 Gresham Street and 12 Arthur Street in the City of London in 2001 have led to a complete reassessment of the provision of Roman London’s water supply. Four massive first- and second-century wells contained remains of two types of mechanical water-lifting machines or bucket-chain systems. The discoveries allowed identification of a similar bucket-chain from the Cheapside Roman baths, found 50 years earlier by Ivor Noël Hume of the Guildhall Museum. Archaeological and engineering analysis has revealed the water-lifting capacity of the machines, which could have supplied a significant proportion of the town’s population with clean water.

Keywords

Roman BritainLondonwater-supplywellswater-lifting machinesRoman bathsRoman engineeringMuseum of London
Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 37 , November 2006 , pp. 1 - 52
Copyright
Copyright © Ian Blair, Robert Spain, Dan Swift, Tony Taylor and Damian Goodburn 2006. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barber, B., and Thomas, C. 2002: The London Charterhouse, MoLAS monograph 10, LondonGoogle Scholar
Betts, I.M. 1995: ‘Procuratorial tile stamps from London’, Britannia 26, 207–29CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blair, I. 2004: ‘The water supply and the mechanical water lifting devices of Roman Londinium – new evidence from three archaeological sites in the City of London’, in Minonzio, F. (ed.), Problemi di macchinismo in ambito romano. Macchine idauliche nella letteratura tecnica, melle fonti storiografche e nelle evidenze archeologico di età imperiale, Proceedings from a conference at the Museo Civico, Como 26 January 2002, Archeologica dell'Italia Senttentrionale 8, Como, 113–25Google Scholar
Blair, I., and Hall, J. 2003: Working Water: Roman Technology in Action, LondonGoogle Scholar
Blair, I., and Swift, D. 2003: ‘Roman London's water supply’, Bulletin Association Roman Archaeology 15, 16–18Google Scholar
Blair, I., and Watson, B. 2004: Blossoms Inn 30 Gresham Street, London EC2, A Post-excavation Assessment and Updated Project Design (GHT00), unpub. MoLAS reportGoogle Scholar
Blair, I., and Watson, B., with Taylor, J. in prep.: Roman and Medieval Development at 30 Gresham Street, London EC2, MoLAS monograph series, LondonGoogle Scholar
Blair, I., Taylor, T., and Spain, R. 2005: ‘The technology of the frst and second century Roman bucket chains from London: from excavation to reconstruction’, in Bouet, A. (ed.), Aquam in altum exprimere: les machines élévatrices d'eau dans l'antiquité, Proceedings of a conference in Bordeaux, 13 March 2003, Bordeaux, 85–144CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brigham, T., and Watson, B. in prep.: Excavations at Regis House in the City of London 1994–96 (KWS94)Google Scholar
Brigham, T., with Woodger, A. 2001: Roman and Medieval Townhouses on the London Waterfront: Excavations at the Governor's House, City of London, MoLAS monograph 9, LondonGoogle Scholar
Coadic, S., and Bouet, A. 2005: ‘La chaîne à godets des thermes de Barzan (Charente-Maritime): une première approche’, in Bouet, A. (ed.), Aquam in altum exprimere: les machines élévatrices d'eau dans l'antiquité, Proceedings of a conference in Bordeaux, 13 March 2003, Bordeaux, 31–44CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, J., and Rowsome, P. in prep.: Roman London and the Walbrook Stream Crossing: Excavations at 1 Poultry and Vicinity, City of London, MoLAS monograph series, LondonGoogle Scholar
Landels, J.G. 1978 (rev. 2000): Engineering in the Ancient World, LondonGoogle Scholar
Marsden, P. 1976: ‘Two Roman public baths in London’, Trans. London Middlesex Arch. Soc. 27, 1–70Google Scholar
Marsden, P. 1983: Roman London, LondonGoogle Scholar
McCann, A.M. 2002: The Roman Port and Fishery of Cosa, A Short Guide, The American Academy in RomeGoogle Scholar
Merrifeld, R. 1965: The Roman City of London, LondonGoogle Scholar
Morris, J. 1982: Londinium, London in the Roman Empire, LondonGoogle Scholar
Noël Hume, I. 1956: A Roman Bath Building in Cheapside (pamphlet), LondonGoogle Scholar
Oleson, J.P. 1984: Greek and Roman Mechanical Water Lifting Devices: the History of a Technology, TorontoCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oleson, J.P. 1987: ‘The Spring House complex’, in McCann, A.M., The Roman Port and Fishery of Cosa, Princeton, 98–128Google Scholar
Perring, D., and Roskams, S., with Allen, P. 1991: Early Development of Roman London West of the Walbrook, CBA Res. Rep. 70, YorkGoogle Scholar
Rowsome, P. 1996: ‘The Billingsgate Roman house and bath - conservation and assessment’, London Archaeologist 7, 415–23Google Scholar
Rowsome, P. 1999: ‘The Huggin Hill baths and bathing in London: barometer of the town's changing circumstances?’, in DeLaine, J. and Johnston, D. (eds), Roman Baths and Bathing, JRA Suppl. 37, Portsmouth, RI, 262–77Google Scholar
Rowsome, P. 2000: Heart of the City: Roman, Medieval and Modern London Revealed by Archaeology at 1 Poultry, MoLAS monograph, LondonGoogle Scholar
Shepherd, J. 1987: ‘The pre-urban topography and Roman topography in the King Street and Cheapside areas of the City of London’, Trans. London Middlesex Arch. Soc. 38, 11–58Google Scholar
Spain, R., and Taylor, T. 2002: Reconstruction Project Design and Specifcation, unpub. MoLAS archive reportGoogle Scholar
Spain, R., and Taylor, T. 2003: Reconstructed Well Tests, unpub. MoLAS archive reportGoogle Scholar
Spain, R., and Taylor, T. in prep.: ‘Roman London's bucket chains: an engineering analysis and reconstruction’Google Scholar
Stein, R. 2004: ‘Roman wooden force pumps; a case study in innovation’, JRA 17, 221–50Google Scholar
Swift, D. 2003: 12 Arthur Street, London EC4, A Post-excavation Assessment and Updated Project Design (AUT01), unpub. MoLAS reportGoogle Scholar
Swift, D. in prep.: Roman Waterfront Development and Medieval Activity at 12 Arthur Street, London EC4, MoLAS Archaeology Studies seriesGoogle Scholar
Vitruvius, De Architectura. Loeb edition, Books VI-X, translated by Frank Granger (1934; repr. 1999)Google Scholar
Wacher, J. 1974: The Towns of Roman Britain, LondonGoogle Scholar
Wang, M. 2002: ‘Characterisation of resinous material by FTIR found on wooden buckets in Roman water-lifting machines from two London City sites; Gresham Street and Arthur Street’, draft analytical report in GHT00 archiveGoogle Scholar
Wilkes, R. 2002: Examination of the Ironwork from a Roman Water-lifting Device from the Eastern Blossoms Inn Well, London, English Heritage Centre for Archaeology Report 22/2002 (unpub.)Google Scholar
Williams, T. 2003: ‘Water and the Roman city: life in Roman London’, in Wilson, P. (ed.), The Archaeology of Roman Towns: Studies in Honour of J.S. Wacher, Oxford, 242–50Google Scholar
Wilmott, T. 1982: ‘Excavations at Queen Street, City of London, 1953 and 1960, and Roman timber-lined wells in London’, Trans. London Middlesex Arch. Soc. 33, 1–78Google Scholar
Wilmott, T. 1984: ‘Roman timber-lined wells in the City of London: further examples’, Trans. London Middlesex Arch. Soc. 35, 5–10Google Scholar
Wilmott, T. 1991: Excavations in the Middle Walbrook Valley, City of London, 1927-1960, London Middlesex Arch. Soc. Spec. Pap. 13, London, 7–58Google Scholar