Comic panel 7
Wat’s Dyke crossed the Clywedog at its confluence with the Black Brook. This strategic location endured, and the promontory south of the valley overlooking both brook and river was selected as the site of an Anglo-Norman castle in the late 11th century, possibly built by Hugh de Avranches, Earl of Chester.
Despite being constructions for contrasting times and built centuries apart, both Wat’s Dyke and Erddig Castle made use of the topography to control and dominate the Anglo-Welsh borderland. Are they both stages in the colonisation of the landscape: first by the Mercians, later by the Normans?
Go North to Wat’s Dyke at Court Wood
Go South to Wat’s Dyke at Big Wood
Access
On foot: 750m+ walk from Erddig Hall. No bicycle and partial mobility scooter access.
By car: park at Erddig National Trust main car park.
The Offa's Dyke Collaboratory 