Wat's Dyke, 380m long section, immediately east of the Sewage Works

Reasons for Designation

Wat's Dyke is a linear earthwork boundary and defensive rampart. It runs for about 60km from Basingwerk, on the Dee estuary, southwards to Maesbury, near Oswestry. It consists of a large ditch, 5m wide and 2m deep, with a bank on the eastern side. The bank is 10m wide at the base, on average, and its original height was about 2.5m. Wat's Dyke runs roughly parallel to Offa's Dyke which lies to the west, sometimes only 500m away. Both dykes run along the borders between England and Wales, and it is clear that both dykes were constructed to defend land on the eastern side from incursions coming from the west.

The earthwork bank and ditch rans without interruption except where the course of a stream or river cut through it. The date of construction has not been accurately determined, but it is considered that it was built at an earlier date than the parallel Offa's Dyke, although it fulfilled the same purpose. The Dyke forms a boundary between lands firmly in control of the Anglo-Saxon overlords and lands more recently taken from the native Britains by the English. Subsequently land to the west of the Dyke became part of what is now Wales. The line of the Dyke has been shown to mark a division between hidated (assessed for taxation on the basis of the Anglo-Saxon units known as `hides') and unhidated lands (land under a different system of government) at the time of the Domesday records. This suggests that the Dyke was constructed before the `hide' system was put into practice during the reign of King Offa of Mercia. The Dyke was probably built during the period of expansion of the kingdom of Mercia, before the accession of Offa, possibly during the reign of Aethelbald (AD 716-757).

All known lengths of Wat's Dyke where significant archaeological deposits are known to survive are considered to be nationally important.

This 380m long section of Wat's Dyke immediately east of the sewage works, survives well and has a high public profile since there is public access to the remains and the bank is clearly visible from the road throughout all this length. It will provide a source for public rereational enjoyment and educational interest. Soils buried beneath the bank and at the bottom of the infilled ditch will contain evidence for the construction of the Dyke and the use of the land at the time it was constructed.

Details

The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of part of the boundary known as Wat's Dyke. This section is 380m long and runs to the east of the Sewage Works on the western side of the Maesbury Road. The Dyke consists of a low bank, eroded through ploughing in the past, about 0.9m high and spread to 15m wide at the base. On the west side is a shallow ditch, about 5m wide. At the north end the remains have been truncated by the construction of the entrance to the sewage works with a concrete pad for car parking and hard standing for buildings. At the south end the remains have been truncated by the construction of drains for the outfall of the works into the River Morda. There are further stretches of Wat's Dyke to the north and to the south of this section, which are the subject of separate schedulings.

Fence posts and a stile are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them is included.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

33873

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Worthington, M, Wat's Dyke, (1993)

End of official list entry

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