Monument Type(s):

• BOUNDARY BANK (Early Saxon to Mid Saxon - 410 AD to 800 AD)
• DYKE (DEFENCE) (Early Saxon to Mid Saxon - 410 AD to 800 AD)
• FRONTIER DEFENCE (Early Saxon to Mid Saxon - 410 AD to 800 AD)

Summary

Scheduled Monument: A well preserved section of Offa's Dyke, the 8th century Mercian boundary bank.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA6597 - Excavation of Offa's Dyke, Nuttwood, Edenhope by D Hill & M Worthington (Ref: Site 128)
• ESA6598 - Excavation of Offa's Dyke, Kerry Ridgeway, Castlewright by D Hill & M Worthington (Ref: Site 56)
• ESA956 - 1978 watching brief and earthwork survey on Offa's Dyke at River Unk Crossing by Shropshire County Council

Description

Partly a 3.6m scarp with 0.9m counterscarp and partly a 3m high bank with ditch and 0.9-15m high outer bank. Grass, fenced partly on top and in ditch. Dyke well-defined with ditch counterscarp bank, running through pasture fields then descending steeply through woodland to the valley floor of the River Unk. <1>

Watching brief carried out on this section of the dyke, Kerry Ridgeway, SO 2602 8926, in 2010 (Site Code: ODP10-KR) on the replacement of a stile and new gate. No archaeological remains recorded. ->

-> Watching brief carried out on this section of the dyke, Nut Wood, SO 2602 8915, in 2010 (Site Code: ODP10-NW) on the replacement of a stile and new gate. No archaeological remains recorded. <2>

Excavation by M. Worthington and D.Hill, investigating the suggestion by Fox that this site was an original gateway through the Dyke. The rounded spine of this hill carried a prehistoric route known as the Kerry Ridgeway (PRN 01963). Evidence for a full-scale Offan ditch was recovered and this break in the Dyke would seem to be a later field entrance, with no evidence being recovered for it having been the earlier course of the Ridgeway route. Also excavated on the hillside on the north side of the Unk Valley. Fieldwalking indicated that this length of Offa’s Dyke was a particularly problematic impediment to surface drainage, and this would have been a problem to the builders of the Dyke throughout the whole length of the dyke. Two excavations took place here, one where the surface evidence for the bank was slight but excavation across these remains showed that a considerable depth of silt had built up against its upslope, eastern face and that this had masked the bank that still stood a metre high below the modern surface of the field. The second excavation removed the turf and topsoil from a badly eroded area of bank adjacent to a modern cut through the earthwork. This allowed a reasonably large surface of the lower part of the bank to be examined and some evidence for the use of turfs in the build of the bank was observed. The silt and modern cuts through the bank were clear indications of the need for some form of drainage through the bank as part of its original construction, to prevent the area on the Mercian side becoming a quagmire, but no evidence was found for a feature that could he interpreted as a culvert during the excavations. A possible explanation for lack of evidence for drainage through the Dyke, both here and in other excavations, is that brushwood culverts may have been laid at intervals in areas where they were seen to be necessary. Unfortunately the evidence for this type of drain would be extremely hard to find after such a long period of time.<3>

"The 'simple gateway' in Offa's Dyke described by Fox was tested by excavation and the ditch shown to exist below the causeway, this must now be considered to be a later opening." <4>

This length of the dyke lies on the lower part of the N slope of the Unk Valley, immediately above the flood plain. The course of the dyke is uncertain here. The dyke is difficult to follow in the wood N of the terraced track and has been obscured, probably by flooding, in the valley bottom S of the River. It’s probable course is indicated by Fox, but there are also slight traces of an irregular bank running NE across the stream from the dyke line - no clear trace in eroded river bank. The dyke ditch can be traced between the wood and the bank - largely filled in by the track to Upper Edenhope, but visible in the scrubby slope to the S as a broad hollow running diagonally across the slope and with a counterscarp bank c.1m wide and 0.25m high on the W side. Its fill was exposed during the lowering of the track by bulldozer -humic clay soil on S and yellow subsoil on the N. The dyke probably continued down the slope, approx. on the line of the present break of slope. Irregularities in the slope indicate that the dyke has slumped down as a result of river action and only the tail of the bank was visible during the group disturbance, as deeper yellow clay soil and hummus. <5>

Section of dyke photographed during aerial survey in 2009. <6> <7>

<01> Department of the Environment (DoE), 1988-Mar-21, Scheduled Monument Notification SA76 Offa's Dyke: section 1/2 mile (800m) long, SE from County boundary to River Unk - also in Powys: Wales (Scheduled Monument notification). SSA29740.

<02> Hannaford Hugh R, 2011, A watching brief on the installation of new path furniture along Offa's Dyke Path, Shropshire, 2010, 2.1, 2.2 (Watching brief report). SSA23982.

<03> Hill D & Worthington M, 2003, Offa's Dyke: history & guide, p57, Sites 56, 128 (Manuscript). SSA23865.

<04> ?Hill D, 1978?, Recent Work on Offa's and Wat's Dykes 1977 -1978 (Gazetteer). SSA3550.

<05> Burrow Ian, 1978, Watching Brief during Lowering of Ground to Reduce Gradient of Farm Track (Watching brief report). SSA3567.

<06> Shropshire Council, 2009-Jan-6, SA0901_005 to SA0901_020 (16 photos) Flight: 09_SA_01 (Oblique aerial photograph). SSA25620.

<07> Shropshire Council, 2009-Mar-20, SA0906_12 to SA0906_18 (7 photos) Flight: 09_SA_06 (Oblique aerial photograph). SSA26047.

Sources

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.