Wat's Dyke

(1st–9th c. AD) Wat's Dyke is a 40-mile (64 km) linear earthwork in the northern Welsh Marches, running from Basingwerk Abbey on the River Dee estuary east of Oswestry to Maesbury in Shropshire [1]. It runs parallel to Offa's Dyke, never more than 5 km (3 mi) away and sometimes within a few yards [1]. Although now appearing as a raised hedgerow or cropmark with the ditch filled and bank ploughed away, it was originally a substantial construction and is considered strategically more sophisticated than Offa's Dyke [1]. Its construction date remains disputed, ranging from the sub-Roman period to the early ninth century [1].