What is Offas Dyke?
Offa’s Dyke is an amazing 1200 year old linear earthwork which runs through the English/Welsh borders from Treuddyn (near Wrexham in north east Wales) to Sedbury Cliffs (on the Severn estuary, in southern Gloucestershire). Right: A map showing the location of Offa’s Dyke The Welsh scholar Asser, writing about a century after Offa’s Dyke is thought to have been built, famously describes it as linking ‘sea to sea’. Although archaeologists have not been able to confirm this assertion – there are major apparent gaps in Herefordshire and elsewhere – the surviving 129 kilometres of earthwork still comfortably amount to Britain’s longest ancient monument. The Dyke consists of an earthen bank which can be up to 8 metres high, associated with a ditch to the west, and typically occupies an imposing position in the landscape with fine and commanding views into Wales. It is not known exactly what the Dyke looked like when first built, but archaeological excavation suggests the western side of the
A huge earthwork, up to 8m high in places and with a deep ditch on one side, which was built in the late 8th century under the orders of Offa, King of Mercia. Today, a long-distance footpath follows its route for 177 miles along the English/Welsh border from coast to coast. It is the only official national trail to follow a man-made feature. The dyke was constructed either as a means of defence or of marking territory, depending on which theory you prefer. Little is known about the dyke but one story has it that men from the border country all had to contribute, either by sending food or by building their share of it. It’s also thought that one of the main, albeit unintentional, effects of the dyke was to encourage the development of a distinct Welsh identity. SO WHERE DOES THE PATH GO? Running north from Sedbury Cliffs, on the river Severn, it passes through some of the most spectacular scenery in Britain, from the Wye Valley, through the Black Mountains and rolling Shropshire hills t
