A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
OFFA'S DYKE, the ancient artificial boundary between Mercia and Wales. It is generally believed to have been formed by the Mercian king Offa, who died about 794; yet is supposed, by some antiquaries, to have partly or wholly existed before Offa's time, and to have been only adopted and improved by him. It is crossed, at several points, by Roman roads; it consisted of a rampart from 50 to 60 feet wide, with a ditch on the Welshside; it was defended, at intervals, by small forts; and it is now, to a considerable aggregate extent, levelled. It began near Prestatyn, on the coast of Flint, 4 miles W of the mouth of the Dee's estuary; it ran south-south-eastward to Caedwn, near Mold, where the most northerly vestiges of it now exist; it proceeded thence, southward, by Minera, Ruabon, Chirk, Selattyn and Llanymynech; it crossed the Vyrnwy at the last of these places, and crossed the Severn 6 miles further S; it then traversed the Longmountain, and went past Montgomery to the highgrounds of Clun forest; it proceeded thence through the E of Radnorshire, and through the W of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire; and it terminated in the grounds of Sedbury Park, overlooking the Severn estuary. Another rampart, called Wat's dyke, ran somewhat parallel to it, at a distance of from a few hundred yards to 2 miles; and is supposed, by some antiquaries, to have also been constructed by Offa; but is neither so distinctly traceable nor so persistent as Offa's dyke. The space between the two ramparts is commonly thought to have been neutral ground.
(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))