For the past three years I have been building an Anglo-Saxon castle in
the garden of my house, using only traditional tools and materials.

Having laid the foundations and dug the moat, I would like to fill the
moat so as to test its integrity (both of itself and against invaders)
before progressing to erecting the walls.

I understand the traditional way of doing this is to tap a river or a
stream, and supplement this with ox-drawn carts filled with barrels of
fresh water. However, being in Brockley, I'm too far from the Thames to
do this (a distance of about 2 miles as the crow flies). There are also
no tube stations near enough for me to tunnel the water from there.
While I think I could construct the necessary carts, I would not have
the space in the remainder of my garden to rear the oxen to draw them.
My neighbours have made some comments on the fact that I have begun
rearing goats and some chickens to produce the considerable tonnage of
dung for wattle daub I will need later on in the construction.

So I am considering using a Chinese technique from about the same
historical era of using giant kites to lift Thames water into place
above the moat and pour it in from there.

Does anyone have any experience with this particular technique (which, I
understand, will require considerable resources and manpower to
implement), or indeed defensive Angle-Saxon moat building in general?

Any advice much appreciated. And if you also have any tips for laying
long-and-short quoins I would also be grateful as my initial attempts at
this were not successful.

Jonathan