Offa's Dyke - Modern Scholarship

Modern Scholarship

Frank Noble challenged Fox's legacy. His greatest contribution was to stir up new academic interest in Offa's Dyke. His MPhil thesis, "Offa's Dyke Reviewed" (1978), raised several questions. Noble postulated that the gaps in the Dyke were not due to natural features, but that instead a "ridden boundary" operated, perhaps incorporating palisades that left no archaeological trace. Noble also helped establish the Offa's Dyke Association, which maintains the Offa's Dyke Path. This long distance footpath mostly follows the route of the dyke, which is one of the designated British National Trails.

Ongoing research and archaeology on Offa's Dyke has been undertaken for many years by the Extra-Mural department of the University of Manchester. Most recently David Hill and Margaret Worthington have undertaken considerable research on the Dyke. Their work, though far from finished, has demonstrated that there is little evidence for the Dyke's stretching from sea to sea. Rather, they claim that it is a shorter structure stretching from Rushock Hill north of the Herefordshire Plain to Llanfynydd, near Mold, Flintshire, some 64 miles (103 km). According to Hill and Worthington, dykes in the far north and south may have different dates, and though they may be connected with Offa's Dyke, there is as yet no compelling evidence behind this. However, not all experts accept this view.