Offa’s Dyke is an ancient earthwork that roughly follows the
border between England and Wales. There were originally about 80 miles of bank
and ditch, with natural boundaries covering many of the gaps. The banks were as
high as 25 feet and the ditches up to 65 feet wide. Today, some parts of the
Dyke are very difficult to discern, but there are still some lengths that are
easily seen, such as at Montgomery in Powys. The long distance Offa’s Dyke Path
runs close to the original line of the Dyke for much of its length between
Chepstow to the south and Prestatyn to the north.
Offa was a powerful king of Mercia during the eighth
century, reigning from 757 to 796. By virtue of conquest and arranging
strategic marriages for his daughters he eventually controlled all of England
south of the River Humber and was the first Anglo-Saxon to earn the title King
of the English.
He introduced currency in the form of silver pennies on
which his head was adorned with a diadem in the manner of a Roman Emperor.
There are no written records that tell how the Dyke was
constructed or even what its true purpose was -whether for defence or merely to
mark the boundary between Mercia and the territory of the Welsh princes to the
West. One thing that is definitely clear is that Offa was able to muster a
considerable workforce to complete the only reason why most people remember his
name today.
© John Welford
