Get Wokingham Blogs - The Aqueduct Hunter Diaries

The Ancient Roman Aqueduct

nospam@example.com (Ted O'Neill) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:22:27 +0100

Last year the Wokingham Times featured the astonishing news about the discovery of the Principal Source of the

Aqua Traiana Aqueduct, Trajan's water supply which dates from 109AD, together with a wonderful article by journalist Victoria Corbett.

This week, the Roman Aqueduct Hunters, Mike and Ted O'Neill are publishing new maps of the Aqueduct

Source chambers, and water capture system.

More information can be found at the new Aqueduct Hunter Website, aqueducthunter.com

That Cheeky Fig Tree

nospam@example.com (Ted O'Neill) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:25:01 +0000

We have one serious enemy in our attempt to preserve the spring chamber and spring gallery of the Aqua Traiana.

More stubborn than the nuttiest old archaeologist, more rapacious than the Emperor Trajan himself, is a certain damned fig tree, sitting adjacent to the ‘church’ chamber itself, from where it sends its roots down into the ‘spring’ chamber or ‘water capture’ chamber and down into the aqueduct.

Continue reading "That Cheeky Fig Tree"

Going to meet the owners

nospam@example.com (Ted O'Neill) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:20:38 +0000

It's Tuesday 2nd March, about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and I've got my first appointment to meet the owners ofthe Aqueduct Spring source that we announced in January.

I'm kind of scared and on-edge, and I've asked a representative of the local archaeological society to come with me.

Continue reading "Going to meet the owners"

The Old Spiral Staircase

nospam@example.com (Ted O'Neill) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:17:34 +0000

The old Spriral Staircase curls down for twenty-five metres into the eery space beneath the city of Rome, where archaeology and ancient tunnels have laid undisturbed since a forgotten time.

Peering down from the top as we prepared to film the aqueduct, we saw the shimmer of the purest water rippling yellow-gold lights right in the centre of the stairway where the ancient Aqueduct passes beneath.

Continue reading "The Old Spiral Staircase"

Filming the Aqua Virgo

nospam@example.com (Ted O'Neill) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 02:22:47 +0000

Cold, wet, in the pitch black, twenty-five metres under the city of Rome, we pushed forwards against the water of Marcus Vespanius Agrippa’s Aqueduct, which has flowed continuously since 19BC, and I prayed that our new high-definition camera wasn’t going to drop into the water and flow all the way back to the Trevi fountain.

Our first filming adventure inside an aqueduct was a one-off. We had spent six months negotiating for access to the Aqua Virgo and we knew we weren’t going to have a second chance.

Continue reading "Filming the Aqua Virgo"

The Aqueduct Hunter Diary

nospam@example.com (Ted O'Neill) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 18:51:37 +0000

My name is Ted O’Neill from Finchampstead in Berkshire, and I am blogging from Rome, where my company is researching and filming the remains of the ancient Roman Aqueducts.

Ancient Rome was not only a Military Powerhouse, but also, in many ways an unsurpassed civilisation and healthy population centre, all powered by clean, fresh water. There was more fresh water arriving in Rome in the year 110 AD than arrives in New York in 2010 AD.

Continue reading "The Aqueduct Hunter Diary"