Editing River Frome, Dorset (section)

==Human history==
At the end of the 1st century AD, the [[Roman Britain|Romans]] built a {{cvt|20|km}} [[Aqueduct (watercourse)|aqueduct]] to supply public fountains and public baths at their new town of [[Durnovaria]] (Dorchester).<ref name=inventory>{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=127578|title='Roman Dorchester (Durnovaria)', An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 2: South East (1970), pp. 531-592|publisher=University of London & History of Parliament Trust|access-date=24 March 2014|date=November 2013}}</ref> Taking the form of a channel about 1.0&nbsp;m wide and 0.35&nbsp;m deep cut into the underlying chalk on an artificial terrace, lined and overlain with timber, the aqueduct took water from the Frome upstream at [[Nunnery Mead]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Manley |first1=Harry |last2=Cheetham |first2=Paul |last3=Stewart |first3=Dave |last4=Russell |first4=Miles |title=A Source of Confusion: New Archaeological Evidence for the Dorchester Aqueduct |journal=[[Britannia (journal)|Britannia]] |date=29 October 2024 |pages=1–15 |doi=10.1017/S0068113X24000254|doi-access=free }}</ref> near Notton (between modern-day [[Maiden Newton]] and [[Frampton, Dorset|Frampton]]) and closely followed the contours of the valley side to the southwest of the river.<ref name=inventory/><ref name=Otter>{{cite book|title=Southern England|publisher=Thomas Telford Ltd|year=1994|isbn=07277-1971-8|pages=133–4|editor=R. A. Otter|series=Civil Engineering Heritage|chapter=5, Dorset and South Wiltshire}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HG-l2kpKPFUC&q=durnovaria+aqueduct&pg=PA133|title=Southern England (Google Books)|isbn=9780727719713|access-date=24 March 2014|last1=Otter|first1=R. A.|year=1994}}</ref> Over its course the aqueduct only fell {{convert|25|ft|m}}, some {{convert|60|ft|m}} less than the river itself. It has been calculated that water would have reached Durnovaria at the rate of 8 million [[gallons]] per day.<ref name=Otter/> Some traces of the aqueduct terrace can still be seen at [[Bradford Peverell]] and on the Dorchester by-pass.

[[File:Dorset Wareham Frome Estuary.jpg|thumb|The Frome estuary at Wareham]]
The [[Danes (Germanic tribe)|Danes]] made frequent raids up the river. The town walls at Wareham were built in 876, possibly by [[Alfred the Great]], to defend the town against this threat.

Until the late 19th century the river was an important part of the trade route for the export of [[Purbeck Ball Clay]] from the [[Isle of Purbeck]]. Originally the clay was brought to wharves at Wareham by [[pack horse]] from the clay pits to the south. In around 1830 the [[Furzebrook Railway]] was built, connecting the pits to a wharf at [[Ridge, Dorset|Ridge]]. This route was eventually superseded by the use of the main line rail network, and eventually by road.