Offa's Dyke: Section extending 380m from Burfa

Cadw's description

Summary description and reason for designation

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument.

The monument comprises a 400m long section of the early medieval boundary earthwork Offa’s Dyke, which runs discontinuously for roughly 120km through the border region between Wales and England from Sedbury near Chepstow to Treuddyn in Flintshire. It is traditionally thought to have been built by the Mercian King Offa in the later 8th century, but recent excavations on a section near Chirk suggest that some sections may incorporate earlier earthworks. Whilst its exact function and original form remain the subject of debate Offa's Dyke is significant as the longest and one of the earliest surviving boundary monuments in Europe marking a nominal frontier between Saxon Mercia and Welsh kingdoms to the west. It represents one of the great engineering achievements of the pre-industrial age and the most dramatic built structure to survive from the early medieval (c410-1100) period in the Britain. Offa’s Dyke normally comprises a substantial upstanding bank or scarp with a western ditch and occasionally the remains of quarry hollows to its east associated with the construction of the bank and is scheduled in multiple different sections on both sides of the present border. These have their own local physical characteristics and landscape settings but all share and contribute to its overall significance.

This section of Offa’s Dyke consists of a shelf, 2-3m wide running around the west-facing slope at the western end of Burfa Bank. It is cut at the southern end by a forestry track and at the northern end by a terrace cut for the construction of a post-medieval house. The remains are slight, described by Cox as a low bank and upper ditch they are difficult to discern on the ground. However, the upstanding earthworks and associated buried archaeology hold significant potential to enhance our knowledge of the construction, use and decay of both this section of the Dyke and of the monument as a whole. There is a high probability of the presence of archaeological features and associated deposits retaining artefactual, environmental and dating evidence and the earthworks are likely to seal pre-Dyke ground surfaces and soils which may provide evidence of the landscape and environment into which it was imposed.

The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.