"Offa's Dyke Offa's Dyke () is a large linear earthwork that roughly follows the current border between England and Wales. The structure is named after Offa, the Anglo-Saxon king of Mercia from AD 757 until 796, who is traditionally believed to have ordered its construction. Although its precise original purpose is debated, it delineated the border between Anglian Mercia and the Welsh kingdom of Powys. The dyke, which was up to wide (including its flanking ditch) and high, traversed low ground, hills and rivers. Today the earthwork is protected as a scheduled monument. Some of its route is followed by"
"Offa's Dyke is a huge earthwork that stretches along the disputed border between England and Wales. Little is known about the period or the builder, King Offa of Mercia, who died in 796 AD. An early timber and earth fortification might later be succeeded by a brick or stone structure on the same site. Trenches were used by besieging forces to approach a fortification while protected from missiles. Sappers would build ""saps"", or trenches, that zig-zagged towards the fortress being attacked. They piled the excavated dirt to make a protective wall or gabion. The combined trench depth and gabion height"
"the Offa's Dyke Path; a long-distance footpath that runs between Liverpool Bay in the north and the Severn Estuary in the south. Although the dyke is conventionally dated to the Early Middle Ages of Anglo-Saxon England, research in recent decades – using techniques such as radioactive carbon dating – has challenged the conventional historiography and theories about the earthwork. The generally accepted theory about much of the earthwork attributes its construction to Offa, King of Mercia from 757 to 796. The structure did not represent a mutually agreed boundary between the Mercians and the Kingdom of Powys. It had a"
"well as in the adjoining Forest of Dean. The medieval boroughs of Goodrich and Chepstow, at each end of the Wye Gorge, may have originally been established at this time. Closely following the River Wye, Offa's Dyke was built in the 8th century under King Offa to mark out the boundary between England and Wales and is, today, the longest archaeological monument in Britain. Offa's Dyke Path long distance footpath today traces the route through the Wye valley on the English bank, while the Wye Valley Walk follows the Welsh bank. When the Normans conquered the region in the 11th"
"are close to the Dyke itself, the Path is longer, and in some places passes at some distance from the earthworks. Opened in 1971, the Path is one of Britain's longest National Trails, stretching for from the Severn estuary at Sedbury, near Chepstow, to Prestatyn on the north Wales coast. There is a visitor centre at Knighton. The dyke has a cultural significance symbolising the separation between England and Wales: a symbolism similar to Hadrian's Wall between England and Scotland in the Scottish Marches. George Borrow in his ""Wild Wales"" (1862), drawn from folklore, claimed that: Offa's Dyke Offa's Dyke"
"who terrified all the neighbouring kings and provinces around him, and who had a great dyke built between Wales and Mercia from sea to sea"". In 1955 Sir Cyril Fox published the first major survey of the Dyke. He concurred with Asser that the earthwork ran 'from sea to sea', theorising that the Dyke ran from the River Dee estuary in the north to the River Wye in the south: approximately . Although Fox observed that Offa's Dyke was not a continuous linear structure, he concluded that earthworks were raised in only those areas where natural barriers did not already"
"in Knighton (). There used to be around 600 stiles along the route, but many of these have now been replaced by kissing gates. Various bodies on either side of the border are collaborating on a sustainable tourism partnership, a principal focus of which is ""Walking with Offa"", both on the trail but also in what has been dubbed Offa's Country i.e. in a corridor along the border. The path was the focus of an episode of the Channel 4 program ""Britain's Ancient Tracks with Tony Robinson"". Offa's Dyke Path Offa's Dyke Path (Welsh: ""Llwybr Clawdd Offa"") is a long-distance"
"the dyke's existence 300 years earlier, is that it may have been built by the post-Roman rulers of Wroxeter. King Offa of Mercia seems to have continued this consultative initiative when he created a larger earthwork, now known as Offa's Dyke (). Davies wrote of Cyril Fox's study of Offa's Dyke: ""In the planning of it, there was a degree of consultation with the kings of Powys and Gwent. On the Long Mountain near Trelystan, the dyke veers to the east, leaving the fertile slopes in the hands of the Welsh; near Rhiwabon, it was designed to ensure that Cadell"
"an exclave of Flintshire, between Bangor-on-Dee (in Wales) and Whitchurch (in England). Returning to the River Dee as far as Chirk, the boundary then loops to the west, following Offa's Dyke itself for about , and including within England the town of Oswestry, before reaching the River Vyrnwy at Llanymynech. It follows the Vyrnwy to its confluence with the River Severn, and then continues southwards, rising over Long Mountain east of Welshpool. East of Montgomery, the boundary again follows the line of Offa's Dyke for about , before looping eastwards to include within Wales a large area near Churchstoke. It"
"roughly 12 days to complete. Following a man-made border and ancient monument, rather than natural features, the dyke path crosses a variety of landscapes. The route crosses the Black Mountains, the Shropshire Hills, including the many ups and downs of the 'Switchback', the Eglwyseg moors north of Llangollen and the Clwydian Range. It passes through, or close to, the towns of Chepstow, Monmouth, Abergavenny, Hay-on-Wye, Kington, Knighton, Montgomery and then in and around the North Wales towns and villages of Llangollen, Llandegla, Clwyd Gate, Bodfari and Dyserth. The half-way point of the path is marked by the Offa's Dyke Centre"
"In Search of the Dark Ages (aired in 1979), show support for Noble's idea. Most recently Hill and Margaret Worthington have undertaken considerable research on the Dyke. Their work, though far from finished, has demonstrated that there is little evidence for the Dyke stretching from sea to sea. Rather, they claim that it is a shorter structure stretching from Rushock Hill north of the Herefordshire Plain to Llanfynydd, near Mold, Flintshire, some 64 miles (103 km). According to Hill and Worthington, dykes in the far north and south may have different dates, and though they may be connected with Offa's"
"Offa's Dyke, build during the 8th century to mark the border between Wales and England (or Mercia). In 1951 Professor F W Shotton of Birmingham University identified the source of the rock used for shafthole battle-axes, splitting mauls and axe hammers as picrite which had been quarried from Corndon Hill. Picrite is a hard volcanic or igneous rock. Production sites of stone axes and shafthole implements have been grouped by petrology and the Hyssington/Corndon Hill implements are known as Group XII. As the production of these implements in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age did not employ the same"
"extending from the Severn valley near Oswestry to the Dee at Basingwerk in what became Flintshire, perhaps to protect recently acquired lands. After Æthelbald was killed in 757, a brief civil war in Mercia then ended in victory for his distant cousin, Offa. As king, he rebuilt Mercia's hegemony over the southern English through military campaigns, and also caused the construction of Offa's Dyke, around the years 770 and 780. Offa's Dyke is a massive linear earthwork, up to wide (including its surrounding ditch) and high. It is much larger and longer than Wat's Dyke, but runs roughly parallel to"
"thought to be from a much-travelled early Christian missionary, Brioc, whose name also appears in places as far afield as Cornwall and Brittany. Later King Offa of Mercia built Offa's Dyke from the mouth of the River Wye near Chepstow to Prestatyn and local remains can still be seen in the nearby Hudnalls Wood. The Normans thought it an ideal site for one of the many castles built from Chepstow to Chester to check the intrusion of the warlike Welsh tribesmen from the Welsh Kingdom of Gwent into the more peaceful areas east of the Severn and Wye rivers. At"
"his successors sought to expand Mercia further westwards into what is now Cheshire, Shropshire and Herefordshire. Campaigns and raids from Powys then led, possibly around about AD 820, to the building of Wat's Dyke, a boundary earthwork extending from the Severn valley near Oswestry to the Dee estuary. As the power of Mercia grew, a string of garrisoned market towns such as Shrewsbury and Hereford defined the borderlands as much as Offa's Dyke, a stronger and longer boundary earthwork erected by order of Offa of Mercia between AD 757 and 796. The Dyke still exists, and can best be seen"
"Wat's Dyke Wat's Dyke () is a 40-mile (64 km) earthwork running through the northern Welsh Marches from Basingwerk Abbey on the River Dee estuary, passing to the east of Oswestry and on to Maesbury in Shropshire, England. It runs generally parallel to Offa's Dyke, sometimes within a few yards but never more than three miles away. It now appears insignificant, sometimes a raised hedgerow and in other places is now no more than a cropmark, the ditch long since filled in and the bank ploughed away, but originally it was a considerable construction, considered to be more sophisticated than"
"ditch on the Welsh (western) side, with the displaced soil piled into a bank on the Mercian (eastern) side. This suggests that Mercians constructed it as a defensive earthwork, or to demonstrate the power and intent of their kingdom. Throughout its entire length, the Dyke constantly provides an uninterrupted view from Mercia into Wales. Where the earthwork encounters hills or high ground, it passes to the west of them. Although historians often overlook Offa's reign due to limitations in source material, he ranks as one of the greatest Anglo-Saxon rulers – as evidenced in his ability to raise the workforce"
"to campaign for official recognition of the walk throughout the rest of his life until ill health intervened a few years prior to his death in 2012. The 7th edition of the guide, updated by the newly formed Cambrian Way Trust, was in 2016. The route is not waymarked and requires advanced map reading and navigational experience. The route is wholly within Wales, unlike the Offa's Dyke Path which follows the Wales-England border. Accommodation is scarce in some parts of the walk, so diversions, some quite long, are needed unless a tent and provisions are carried. It traverses Wales from"
"ap Brochwel retained possession of the Fortress of Penygadden."" And, for Gwent, Offa had the dyke built ""on the eastern crest of the gorge, clearly with the intention of recognizing that the River Wye and its traffic belonged to the kingdom of Gwent."" However, Fox's interpretations of both the length and purpose of the Dyke have been questioned by more recent research. Offa's Dyke largely remained the frontier between the Welsh and English, though the Welsh would recover by the 12th century the area between the Dee () and the Conwy, known then as ""Y Berfeddwlad"". By the 8th century,"
"of Offa's Dyke. Noble postulated that the gaps in the Dyke were not due to the incorporation of natural features as defensive barriers, but instead the gaps were a ""ridden boundary"", perhaps incorporating palisades, that left no archaeological trace. Noble also helped establish the Offa's Dyke Association, which maintains the Offa's Dyke Path. This long-distance footpath mostly follows the route of the dyke, and is a designated British National Trail. John Davies wrote of Fox's study: ""In the planning of it, there was a degree of consultation with the kings of Powys and Gwent. On the Long Mountain near Trelystan,"
"it. The earthwork was generally dug with the displaced soil piled into a bank on the Mercian (eastern) side, providing an open view into Wales and suggesting that it was built by Mercia to guard against attacks or raids from Powys. The late 9th-century writer Asser wrote that Offa """"terrified all the neighbouring kings and provinces around him, and ... had a great dyke built between Wales and Mercia from sea to sea"""". In the mid-20th century, Sir Cyril Fox completed a major survey of the Dyke and stated that it ran from the Dee to the Severn, as Asser"
"and he did this so successfully that he became the greatest king Mercia had ever known. Not only did he win battles and dominate Southern England, but also he took an active hand in administering the affairs of his kingdom, founding market towns and overseeing the first major issues of gold coins in Britain; he assumed a role in the administration of the Catholic Church in England (sponsoring the short-lived archbishopric of Lichfield, 787 to 799), and even negotiated with Charlemagne as an equal. Offa is credited with the construction of Offa's Dyke, which marked the border between Wales and"
"north of Baschurch. These areas were lost to the kingdom of Mercia. The construction of the earthwork known as Offa's Dyke (usually attributed to Offa of Mercia in the 8th century) may have marked an agreed border. For a single man to rule the whole country during this period was rare. This is often ascribed to the inheritance system practised in Wales. All sons received an equal share of their father's property (including illegitimate sons), resulting in the division of territories. However, the Welsh laws prescribe this system of division for land in general, not for kingdoms, where there is"
"encouraging more walking tourism, was Walking with Offa, launched in October 2011 at the Offa's Dyke Centre in Knighton, Powys. Offa's Country Offa's Country is a sustainable tourism project developed under the 2009 Welsh-English Border Strategic Regeneration Programme. The programme is funded by the Welsh Government, Natural England and Advantage West Midlands. Partnerships have been developed between the bodies responsible for the four protected landscapes along a corridor including the administrative border and Offa's Dyke itself, namely Brecon Beacons National Park, Clwydian Range AONB, Shropshire Hills AONB and the Wye Valley AONB together with the Offa's Dyke National Trail. Various"
"Offa's Country Offa's Country is a sustainable tourism project developed under the 2009 Welsh-English Border Strategic Regeneration Programme. The programme is funded by the Welsh Government, Natural England and Advantage West Midlands. Partnerships have been developed between the bodies responsible for the four protected landscapes along a corridor including the administrative border and Offa's Dyke itself, namely Brecon Beacons National Park, Clwydian Range AONB, Shropshire Hills AONB and the Wye Valley AONB together with the Offa's Dyke National Trail. Various other local and quasi-governmental bodies from either side of the border are also involved. The first phase of the project,"
"Oak at the Gate of the Dead The Oak at the Gate of the Dead (in Welsh: ""Derwen Adwy'r Meirwon""), or Crogen Oak is a veteran tree in The oak, a ""Quercus robur"", is situated near Wrexham in modern Wales. It lies on Offa's Dyke Path which runs near to Offa's Dyke, a circa 8th-century Anglo-Saxon border earthwork between Mercia and the Welsh Kingdoms. It is located around from Chirk Castle, at the entrance to the Ceiriog Valley and next to a public road (the B4500). The oak is estimated to be more than 1,000 years old and it has"
"been with Elisedd's own agreement, however, for this boundary, extending north from the Severn valley to the Dee estuary, gave Oswestry (Welsh: ""Croesoswallt"") to Powys. King Offa of Mercia seems to have continued this consultive initiative when he created a larger earth work, now known as Offa's Dyke (Welsh: ""Clawdd Offa""). Davies wrote of Cyril Fox's study of Offa's Dyke: In the planning of it, there was a degree of consultation with the kings of Powys and Gwent. On the Long Mountain near Trelystan, the dyke veers to the east, leaving the fertile slopes in the hands of the Welsh;"
"fully opened on 5 May 2012, and comprises an coastal walking route from Chepstow in the south to Queensferry in the north. Offa's Dyke Path, a non-coastal route, also links the England Coast Path at its Welsh border, largely following the line of the remnants of Offa's Dyke. Natural England has divided the coast into 66 sections for planning purposes. The sections fall into 5 categories: The sections (working anti-clockwise round England from the southern end of the Welsh border and using Natural England's areas) comprise: England Coast Path The England Coast Path is a proposed long-distance National Trail which"
"are also defined as Sites of Special Scientific Interest, including stretches within the Lower Wye Valley SSSI and the Highbury Wood National Nature Reserve. Parts are located within the Wye Valley and Shropshire Hills Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Most of the line of Offa's Dyke is designated as a public right of way, including those sections which form part of the Offa's Dyke Path. In August 2013, a section of Dyke, between Chirk and Llangollen, was destroyed by a local landowner. The destruction of the Dyke to build a stable was said to be like ""driving a road through"
"There is a car park near the top of the pass from the north and under Hay Bluff, and is a very convenient stopping point for exploring the nearby peaks, especially Hay Bluff and the Twmpa. The Offa's Dyke Path crosses the road near the car park, and leads to Hay Bluff before leading on to Hatterall Ridge and the Black Mountain as well as along the edge of the escarpment to the Black Hill. Although substantial efforts have been made to provide a dry stone pavement on the footpaths, especially the official Offa's Dyke path, other routes are not"
"with several sows of lead found bearing the name 'DECEANGI' inscribed in Roman epigraphy. The Deceangli appear to have surrendered to Roman rule with little resistance. Following Roman Britain, and the emergence of various petty kingdoms, the region had been divided into the Hundred of Englefield (), derived from the Latin Deceangli. It became part of the Kingdom of Mercia by the 8th century AD, with much of the western boundary reinforced under Offa of Mercia after 752, but there is evidence that Offa's Dyke is probably a much earlier construction. By the time of the Norman conquest in 1066"
"The Offa's Dyke national trail makes a steep ascent of the hill's northern slopes and then heads south eastwards along the broad ridge of the Black Mountain and the Hatterall Ridge. A more gentle path to the summit follows the crest of the north-facing scarp, known as Ffynnon y Parc, from the road summit about 1 mile / 1.7 km to the southwest at Gospel Pass. There is also a clear, but unpaved path which passes along the edge of the escarpment to the east with superb views over the countryside towards Hay-on-Wye. It leads to the trig point at"
"Scots' Dike The Scots' Dike or dyke is a three and a half mile / 5.25 km long linear earthwork, constructed by the English and the Scots in the year 1552 to mark the division of the Debatable lands and thereby settle the exact boundary between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England. The Debatable Lands, also known as ""Debatable ground"", ""Batable ground"", or ""Threpe"" - Scots for something that is argued over - were in the West Marches, bounded on the west by the River Sark, to the east by the River Esk and Liddel Water, on"