When the dyke was constructed is another mystery. Until relatively recently, many historians had thought the dyke was an eighth century Mercian near-contemporary of the more famous Offa’s Dyke, that runs parallel and to the west of Wat’s Dyke.  They are now having to re-think their theory. Others though suspected that it pre-dated Offa’s Dyke and attributed its construction to King Offa’s predecessor, Aethelbald, who lived between 716 and 757AD. The most accurate indication yet about when it was built came as a result of radio-carbon dating of charcoal found with shards of Romano-British pottery following an archaeological excavation of a section of the dyke at Maes y Clawdd near Oswestry.  The testing, carried out at Queen’s University, Belfast, dated its construction at between 411 and 561AD.

Irrespective of its origins, Wat’s Dyke is now travelled by many walkers enjoying the great outdoors. It runs from Llanymynech, south of Oswestry, to Overton, Wrexham, Caergwrle (with its castle) and up on to Halkyn Mountain before finishing at Greenfield in Holywell.  Check out the Wat’s Dyke website for full details.