Offa’s Dyke Conference
On Saturday 15th September 2018, three of our members attended a conference in Oswestry organised by CPAT (Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust) and the Offa’s Dyke Collaboratory. The Collaboratory was formed in 2017 to bring together all the disparate individuals and organisations that are interested in Offa’s Dyke, and the other dykes that run along the English-Welsh border.
Alan Brown, our Director of Archaeology, was invited to give a short talk entitled ‘The Caer Alyn Connection’, which looked at the possible connection between the Iron Age fort at Caer Alyn and Wat’s Dyke. The path of the dyke is believed to run along the western side of the fort but there is very little visible evidence of any bank or ditch here. Alan presented geophysical evidence produced by the Caer Alyn Archaeological Project that suggests the existence of banks and ditches to the north of the fort, which may have been constructed in the early medieval period as part of the creation of Wat’s Dyke. The fort at Caer Alyn, although slightly lower than the surrounding land to the west, south and east, does provide an excellent vantage point over the River Alyn at the point where Wat’s Dyke crosses the river, and the substantial Iron Age defences at Caer Alyn could also have been utilised by the Mercians to provide a strongly defended control point for people and goods crossing the Dyke.
A special thanks to Rebecca Smith, a member of our group, whose recent project on Wat’s Dyke for her ‘A’ level Archaeology was of great help in putting the talk together.
There were nine other speakers who all gave very interesting talks on a range of subjects relating to Offa’s Dyke; Niall Heaton’s talk about the Trefonen Rural Protection Group was particularly impressive given that he is just 14 years old.
We would like to thank the organisers of the conference for inviting us to attend and speak, particularly Penelope Foreman.
Our research is continuing regarding Wat’s Dyke at Caer Alyn and in the surrounding area.
Caer Alyn 