Moving back north from Dudston Fields, we next went to a very different topographical location for Offa’s Dyke. The only similarity is that here, again, Offa’s Dyke follows the modern Anglo-Welsh border. As we headed north from Dudston Fields, we saw the dyke at key points including at Llanymynech where it heads for an Iron Age hillfort on a prominent hill having negotiated the Severn valley, and later on we saw it dramatically situated at Baker’s Hill and Carreg-y-big. We then walked a section of Offa’s Dyke from Craignant south up onto Selattyn Hill.
In contrast to the wide open vistas of the Vale of Montgomery, here Offa’s Dyke navigates steep topography as it jumps between tight valleys in the Welsh uplands.
The line of the dyke was clear here, we could see how it bends eastwards as it descends into valleys, so its concave line more effectively overlooks and impresses those approaching from the west. This is a feature Ray and Bapty identify.
We then followed it as it skirted the western edge, rather than attempted to reach the top, of Selattyn Hill.
We also discussed how you have fairly restricted views westwards from the dyke, contrasting with the situation at Dudston Fields. However, the significance of its line in navigating this more challenging terrain might have instead come from strategies of communication along dyke’s line, rather than an ability to surveil extensive vistas west. Furthermore, as I’ve suggested before on this blog, the dyke in this area controls stupendous views eastwards, and the hills immediately behind it to the east might have served as beacons affording communication over 40 miles across the Cheshire and Shropshire plains.
The composition and design of the dyke differs here too. It is less monumental than at Dudston Fields. The dyke has to be dug into very different geology: here it is stone and must have been very difficult to excavate. The bank is smaller, and the ditch seems less broad, meaning it might have been deep but steep.
Another point of interest is that the rise up from Craignant reveals demonstrable scrapes that might be unrecorded primary quarries, used to excavate stone to face the dyke. It might have originally been dressed to appear like a drystone wall: a point suggested (again) by Ray and Bapty.
An additional point of interest is the proximity of the dyke to a seemingly prehistoric cairn, although I’m not suggesting any precise connection to the dyke.
The section at Craignant allowed us to identify the later commemoration of Offa’s Dyke: the notable Craignant tower. This is a 19th-century folly affording the dyke with a fortified Gothic appearance.
Finally, we discussed the role of the Offa’s Dyke Path, and we met walkers enjoying it. The walk gave us a clear sense of the dyke as a long-distance footpath, and the signs revealed its intersection with the Shropshire Way.
