Clawdd Wat | |
 Wat's Dyke nearNorthop, Wales | |
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| Location | England–Wales border |
|---|---|
| Type | Earthwork |
| Material | Earth |
| Length | Up to 40 mi (64 km) |
| Completion date | 8th century |
Wat's Dyke (Welsh:Clawdd Wat) is a 40-mile (64 km)linear earthwork running through the northernWelsh Marches fromBasingwerk Abbey on theRiver Deeestuary, passing east ofOswestry and on toMaesbury inShropshire, England. It runs generally parallel toOffa's Dyke, sometimes within a few yards but never more than three miles (5 km) away. It now appears insignificant and is visible in some places as a raisedhedgerow and in others no more than acropmark. The ditch has long since been filled in and the bank ploughed away, but originally it was a considerable construction, considered to be strategically more sophisticated than Offa's Dyke.[1] The date of construction is disputed, ranging fromsub-Roman to the early ninth century.
It consists of the usual bank and ditch of an ancient dyke, with the ditch on the western side, meaning that the dyke facesWales and by implication can be seen as protecting the English lands to the east. The placement of the dyke in the terrain also shows that care was taken to provide clear views to the west and to use local features to the best defensive advantage.
A section of the dyke extends north and south fromOld Oswestry, anIron Age hill fort.[2]
The dyke was previously thought to date to the early 8th century, constructed byÆthelbald, king ofMercia, who reigned from 716 to 757. Æthelbald's successor,Offa, built the dyke which carries his name at some point during his reign (757 to 796).
Excavations in the 1990s at Maes-y-Clawdd nearOswestry uncovered the remains of a small fire site together with eroded shards ofRomano-British pottery and quantities ofcharcoal, which have beendated to between 411 and 561 AD (centered around 446 AD).[3] This evidence would seem to place the building of the dyke in the era of the post-Roman kingdom whose capital was atWroxeter (just south of modern-dayShrewsbury) about 10 miles (16 km) to the east.[1]
The dating of the fire site and hence the dyke has been disputed, and it has been suggested that owing to the difficulties inherent in radiocarbon dating, this single date cannot be fully trusted and also that the dyke could easily have been built on top of the fire site at a later date.[4]
Excavations in 2006 suggested a much later date of 792–852, and the earlier date is now thought to relate to a fire site of a sub-Roman earthwork which preceded the actual dyke. It has been tentatively suggested that the likely context for construction is in the 820s, when the Mercian kingCoenwulf was fighting against a resurgent Welsh threat.[5]
The approximate line of the earthwork is followed by the Wat's Dyke Way, a waymarked long-distance path running for 61 miles (98 km) fromLlanymynech in Powys toBasingwerk Abbey on theRiver Dee nearHolywell. It was opened in 2007.[6]
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52°59′12″N3°1′43″W / 52.98667°N 3.02861°W /52.98667; -3.02861
