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Post by muriman on Jun 29, 2009 21:07:12 GMT
Can anyone cast light on the following? Within the castle above the old village there is what appears to be a well. I have always resisted the temptation to drop a stone down it but I presume it is quite deep. To be a source of water in the past, the well must have been incredibly deep. The underlying geology here seems to be mostly limestone with some igneous or schist material which I would have thought has limited water-bearing capacity. I know the gist of the history of Halki's water supply and salination of the groundwater, but even so, surely the past water table can't have been so high as to feed a well at the height of the castle, can it? And if a very deep well did exist, how was it dug?
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Post by davidfromealing on Jul 1, 2009 19:56:51 GMT
Muriman, I'm afraid I don't have the answer to your question. But I would love to find out more about the history of Halki. Does anyone know if anything of any substance has been written in English? And are there old pictures available anywhere?
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Post by Liz on Jul 1, 2009 21:27:32 GMT
Muriman I have no idea either ( no surprise there ! )  |
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Post by Kinygos on Jul 2, 2009 6:28:17 GMT
I have a hypothesis. Feel free to demolish it.
Firstly there is little point in having a fortress without its own water supply to prepare for siege conditions. This is a fortress, rather than a castle in the medieval sense; outer bailey, inner bailey, and keep. I would assume a minimal occupancy, and the need for the well would only be in that siege state.
Limestone does hold water efficiently; it is also dissolved by water, hence limestone caves. Fresh water from rainfall percolating down would float on the saltwater rising by osmosis. Mixing would be minimised by the limestone. However the freshwater available would only be a thin layer. The well would not extend below sea level for obvious reasons. I imagine you would dig until you found water, and then stop.
Carisbrooke Castle well was dug 48.5m deep, in chalk, the softer precursor to limestone. How this was done I do not know, but Neolithic people achieved the Grimes’ Graves excavations in East Anglia using flint and deer antler picks. While it would not be a pleasant job, at least metal tools would be available
A bucket on a rope could lift the water, and if only a little was taken over a period, it would be replenished by fresh rather than salt water.
Any thoughts?
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Post by muriman on Jul 3, 2009 23:08:27 GMT
Kinygos, an interesting hypothesis - but what makes me more curious is your links with Norfolk, combined with your reference to Norwich in your posting about Greece Magazine. About 50 years ago I crawled around the excavations at Grimes Graves on a school trip. I was brought up in Norfolk and went to school in Norwich, although I have lived in the "West Country" for some years. I guess that not many people living in Rhodes would know the 'Fine City' slogan (courtesy of Norwich Union Insurance Co before it became Aviva) and even fewer know Grimes Graves!
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Post by lisa on Jul 8, 2009 21:23:35 GMT
Well (get it!) small world and all that.
Simon and Muriman, you are both far too intelligent for me. If anyone does know of anything published in English I really would be interested too (as long as it's not too technical!). The Nisos Chalki book that the town council got published a few years back has a brief history in it but nothing in depth (another well reference!) ;D
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Post by daisy on Jul 8, 2009 21:53:50 GMT
Don't know of any books but we brought some lovely sepia postcards a few years back from the Church Museum of the Halki waterfront years before tourist arrived.
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