Very interesting information. I've walked and backpacked the entirety of Offa's Dyke path last autumn on its 50th birthday. Breathtaking countryside like the signs say and the most cows and sheep I have ever encountered in Britain!

Great lecture! your enthusiasm gives this subject the life and energy it needs, thank you.

Thank you for this. I was walking on parts of the Dyke, and thought I would do some research. Thanks for the information and thank you to the Offa Collabortory (love that name :) )

Incredible. First time I’ve heard of this in my 42 years. I must see it for myself

thanks very much. very interesting

I know it is very fashionable for archaeologists to talk about Harridans Wall in similar ways to the way you describe possible trade along and across the dyke as if it was considered to be more than a minor ancillary adjunct to the primary need for defence. If trade and tax collection was a primary motive for the dykes construction then why did the Saxon kings including Offa build such edifices along their borders? Eg between Mercia and Wessex? Thinking about it further. There is an easy way to see if the Dyke acted as a control on trade, as is proposed for Harridans Wall. Look for archaeological remains of contemporary linear villages on likely trade routes. Borders where trade takes place always develop such infrastructure (just think of the lorry parks around Dover). Whether the villages develop on one or both sides of the dyke will give an indication of trade flows. Another less direct way would be to do a statistical analysis of the spread of Offa's coinage in Wales, and compare that with the spread of Offa's coinage in Mercia. We have 3 examples of borders within the British Isles in the later middle ages. The Welsh and Scottish marches, and to put it mildly raiding took place across the borders in both directions, but control of territory on the other side of the border was by and large absent. Also the term "Beyond the Pale" indicates just how far English influence stretched outside Dublin for periods of the English government of the Lordship of Ireland and in theory in charge of both sides of the Pale. A much more informative example exist since the partition of Ireland. Despite modern surveillance techniques, helicopters, etc., Although the British Army was nominally in charge of the "Bandit Country" in South Armagh in practice they were very likely to be ambushed. So given these examples what makes you think that Offa's forces would have controlled territory beyond the Dyke?

Hello! So glad I found your video. I am researching Offa's Mercia, as well as the surrounding kingdoms, Ireland and Charlemagne and am interested in every little detail I can find to be able to incorporate them into a possible book, to stay as accurate as possible. Would it be possible to contact you for points of information? Thank you.

In search of the middle ages, had a very comprehensive video. The area he was at was very large not that BS.

Thank you for a very interesting video. I have one question and one observation (that I will place in a seperate post). As a layman I would call Nelson's column a monument, but not a slagheap, or a railway line closed by Beeching. So how do archeologists define what is and is not a monument?

Chester might be the centre of his Britain but it isn't the centre of England or Britain. I am from Guiseley and THAT is the centre... 2 hours to either coast