On 1 June, at theĀ Venue in the Park, Alyn Waters Country Park,Ā the Offaās Dyke Collaboratory held its latest day conference. With an attendance of c. 50 individuals, speakers came from avocational, professional and academic backgrounds. The day brought together new perspectives and results on the study of Offaās Dyke, Watās Dyke and their landscape contexts in comparative perspective.
The morning began with chairman of the Offaās Dyke Association ā who had been instrumental in supporting and organising the day ā identifying the latest developments and perspectives on the ODA as a charitable organisation and its plans for the future. For more information, see Daveās YouTube interview in support of the conference.
Next, we had a presentation by Dr Pauline Clarke āThe Dykes of the Welsh Border and the PAS dataā exploring the some of the results of her doctoral thesis on the material culture of the Anglo-Welsh borderlands, as published in Offaās Dyke Journal 5.
This was followed by Ian Grant, Richard Hankinson and Tim Malim presenting the results of four separate fieldwork projects investigating Watās Dyke and one excavation of Offaās Dyke: āConflicting evidence: the dating and character of Watās and Offaās Dykeā. Preliminary results about two of these at Chirk and Erddig were published in Offaās Dyke Journal 1.
A new project was then introduced directed by Dr Charles Insley and Dr Andy Seaman: āMaking the March: Contesting Lands in the Early Medieval Frontierā.
The 2023 heritage walk of the entire length of the historic monument Offaās Dyke was reflected upon by Prfessor Keith Rayās talk āWalking the Line: Offaās Dyke from Shore to Shore in 2023ā.
The final talk before lunch, by John G. Swogger, addressed āSeeing the Line: Art, Creativity and Perceptions of Offaās Dykeā, considering the role of art in āseeingā the monument and its landscape context. Diana Baur and himself presented an exhibition linked to our YouTube interview.
After lunch, āThe Offaās Dyke Conservation Projectā by Helen Upson presented ongoing work to conserve the monument.
Three shorter project updates were then provided, first by Ray Bailey on āNew work exploring Offaās Dyke in Flintshireā, the results of which were published in Offaās Dyke Journal 3. Check out my interview with Ray.
Taking forward the identification of Offaās Dyke in Herefordshire as presented in Offaās Dyke Journal 3, Terry Morgan next presented āOffaās Dyke near Ross-on-Wye: observations and next stepsā, exploring possible further locations and features that might constitute elements of Offaās Dyke.
The third project report was Julian Ravest on āDrone Photography of the Dykeā and how it provides insights into the structure, placement, management and conservation of the monument as well as identifying related archaeological sites and monuments.
The day ended with two reflections on the future of the Collaboratory ā myself building on my YouTube talk to address the future of the Offaās Dyke Journal.
The final presentation was by Professor Keith Ray considering future developments with the Collaboratory ā events, activities, projects and publications.
Thanks to Dave McGlade and Professor Keith Ray for co-organising with me and to the venue for hosting us as well as to all the speakers for their contributions. The audience was attentive and provided detailed and challenging questions to the speakers and it was a fully successful public event.
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