Wat's Dyke () is a
linear earthwork running through the northern
Welsh Marches
The Welsh Marches () is an imprecisely defined area along the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods.
The English term Welsh March (in Medieval Latin ''Marchia W ...
from
Basingwerk Abbey on the
River Dee estuary
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...
, passing east of
Oswestry
Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the England–Wales border, Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5 road (Great Britain), A5, A483 road, A483 and A495 road, A495 ro ...
and on to
Maesbury
Maesbury is a small scattered community in Shropshire, England, south of the town of Oswestry, falling within the Oswestry Rural parish.
The name is derived from ''maes'', meaning ''field'' or ''plain'' in Brythonic Welsh,
and '' burh'' ...
in
Shropshire
Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...
, England. It runs generally parallel to
Offa's Dyke
Offa's Dyke () is a large linear Earthworks (Archaeology), earthwork that roughly follows the England–Wales border, border between England and Wales. The structure is named after Offa of Mercia, Offa, the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon king of Mer ...
, sometimes within a few yards but never more than away. It now appears insignificant and is visible in some places as a raised
hedge
A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced (3 feet or closer) shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate ...
row and in others no more than a
cropmark
Cropmarks or crop marks are a means through which sub-surface archaeological, natural and recent features may be visible from the air or a vantage point on higher ground or a temporary platform. Such marks, along with parch marks, soil marks a ...
. The ditch has long since been filled in and the bank ploughed away, but originally it was a considerable construction, considered to be strategically more sophisticated than Offa's Dyke.
[ The date of construction is disputed, ranging from sub-Roman to the early ninth century.
]
Construction and siting
It consists of the usual bank and ditch of an ancient dyke, with the ditch on the western side, meaning that the dyke faces Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
and by implication can be seen as protecting the English lands to the east. The placement of the dyke in the terrain also shows that care was taken to provide clear views to the west and to use local features to the best defensive advantage.
A section of the dyke extends north and south from Old Oswestry, an Iron Age
The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
hill fort.
Dating controversy
The dyke was previously thought to date to the early 8th century, constructed by Æthelbald, king of Mercia
Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...
, who reigned from 716 to 757. Æthelbald's successor, Offa
Offa ( 29 July 796 AD) was King of Mercia, a kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England, from 757 until his death in 796. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, Offa came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of ...
, built the dyke which carries his name at some point during his reign (757 to 796).
Excavations in the 1990s at Maes-y-Clawdd near Oswestry
Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the England–Wales border, Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5 road (Great Britain), A5, A483 road, A483 and A495 road, A495 ro ...
uncovered the remains of a small fire site together with eroded shards of Romano-British
The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...
pottery and quantities of charcoal
Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ca ...
, which have been dated to between 411 and 561 AD (centered around 446 AD). This evidence would seem to place the building of the dyke in the era of the post-Roman kingdom whose capital was at Wroxeter
Wroxeter ( ) is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Wroxeter and Uppington, in the Shropshire district, in the ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. It is beside the River Severn, south-east of Shrewsbury. In 1961 the ...
(just south of modern-day Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...
) about to the east.
The dating of the fire site and hence the dyke has been disputed, and it has been suggested that owing to the difficulties inherent in radiocarbon dating, this single date cannot be fully trusted and also that the dyke could easily have been built on top of the fire site at a later date.
Excavations in 2006 suggested a much later date of 792–852, and the earlier date is now thought to relate to a fire site of a sub-Roman earthwork which preceded the actual dyke. It has been tentatively suggested that the likely context for construction is in the 820s, when the Mercian king Coenwulf was fighting against a resurgent Welsh threat.
Wat's Dyke Way
The approximate line of the earthwork is followed by the Wat's Dyke Way, a waymarked long-distance path running for from Llanymynech
Llanymynech is a village and former civil parish straddling the Wales-England border, border between Powys, Wales, and Shropshire, England, about north of the Welsh town of Welshpool. The name is Welsh language, Welsh for "Llan (placename), L ...
in Powys to Basingwerk Abbey on the River Dee near Holywell. It was opened in 2007.
See also
* Wansdyke, a similar earthwork created during sub-Roman decades in Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...
and Somerset
Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
* Scots' Dike, a linear earthwork constructed in 1552 to mark the division of the Debatable Lands
The Debatable Lands, also known as debatable ground, batable ground or threip lands,. lay between Scotland and England. It was formerly in question as to which it belonged to when they were distinct kingdoms. For most of its existence, the area ...
and thereby settle the exact boundary between the Kingdoms of Scotland and England, on the Anglo-Scottish border
The Anglo-Scottish border runs for between Marshall Meadows Bay on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west, separating Scotland and England.
The Firth of Forth was the border between the Picto- Gaelic Kingdom of Alba and the Angli ...
* Black Pig's Dyke in Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
* Broadclough Dykes in Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
References
Further reading
*Blake, Steve and Scott, Lloyd (2003): ''The Keys to Avalon: The True Location of Arthur’s Kingdom Revealed''. Revised Edition, published by Rider.
*Hannaford, H. R. (1998): "Archaeological Excavations on Wat’s Dyke at Maes-y-Clawdd," ''Archaeology Service'', Shropshire County Council, report no. 132, December 1997.
*Worthington, Margaret (1997): '"Wat’s Dyke: An Archaeological and Historical Enigma," '' Bulletin John Rylands Library'', Manchester, Vol 79, no. 3, 1997. Reprinted i
Offa's Dyke Journal, vol. 1, 2019, pp. 58–79
External links
www.geograph.co.uk
– photos of Wat's Dyke today
{{coord , 52, 59, 12, N, 3, 1, 43, W, type:landmark_region:GB_dim:64000, display=title
Anglo-Saxon sites in England
Anglo-Saxon sites in Wales
Archaeological sites in Powys
Fortifications in England
Fortifications in Wales
History of Shropshire
Archaeological sites in Shropshire
England–Wales border
Ancient dikes
Fortification lines
Scheduled monuments in Flintshire
Linear earthworks