Outreach visit to the centre October 2023
Homely Learning visit
by Ian Mackey – ODA Trustee and Outreach officer)
In October 2023 we had a visit to the Offa’s Dyke Centre from Homely Learning. Emma Brown got in touch (a few times because the visit was important part of their curriculum) and we arranged a date and time. What was lovely is that she was determined the visit would be to the centre to enjoy the landscape, ambiance and the displays.
The weather had not been all that good with the recent storm Babet, and the little ones had to come from Ty Mawr, Llangorse tucked into the north of Bannau Brycheiniog (ban-aye bruch-ay-nee-og)– a beautiful landscape, so it was quite a journey and commitment by the school – thank you to them.
Overview
I met the group at the centre – kindly opened by Dave McGlade .
Their visit was on a day after the last of storm Babet so they had had some heavy rainfall though luckily it was well behaved for the day.
It was a small group of pupils accompanied by 3 adults and, apparently, some pupils had levels of learning difficulty but you couldn’t tell as they were polite, cheery, engaged, fun and enthusiastic as well as incredibly intelligently switched on. I had to be careful what I talked about because they had a good understanding of the Welsh – Anglo-Saxon history and would ask great questions as well as answering some tricky ones.
The session started at 10:30 and ended at 2:00pm with a few small comfort breaks and a post-lunch play on the swings …no, not me. Luckily the weather had turned bright and sunny by then and we had taken a wander down to the Dyke section where the wonderful Anglo-Welsh bridge is.
The planned itinerary
Well, it was a good idea at the time and we got a lot done and it was good fun for all of us – but as with so many Outreach visits, some things were adapted on-the-fly because the youngsters were in-the-zone and asked interesting questions.
(a)=activity
10:30: Meet and greet and comfort break
10:45-11:15: Talk about King Offa of the Mercians and his affect (with PowerPoint slides)
11:15-12:15: (a) Visit the dyke monument and the Wales-England ‘bridge’
12:15-12:40: A few more slides and discussing female warrior and Welsh strength in facing them off. Describe the impact of Æheflæd – female warrior who supported her brother who was king.
(Break for lunch around 12:30 for 30 minutes)
13:00-13:50: Design a coin (a). Discuss why coins are designed the way they are
Rehearse and record introductions and what they found out through the day (you can hear the recordings on the website)
13:50-14:00: What are these? (a) A discussion about the real archaeological finds we brought.
The seat of power…
A visit to the Dyke and the Anglo-Celtic border
It was a lovely day all round, and as they left the youngsters were full of smiles and waves.
Emma and I even discussed a visit down to Ty Mawr (“the big house”) with a local historian to investigate the archaeology and heritage in their immediate neighbourhood. I’ll keep you updated on that either in the newsletter or the Podcast.
They even got to meet ArchaeoDog (“Hamish”) showing the centre is dog-friendly for friendly-dogs.
For more information on an Outreach visit, contact outreach@offasdyke.org.uk; visit the website https://digitalskills.ittutor.training/oda/ or get in touch with the Offa’s Dyke Association
Walk your doggie – on Offa’s Dyke
Searching through things to find citations of Rob Dingle (Powys County Council’s National Trails Officer for Offa’s Dyke), I found this
https://www.yourdog.co.uk/regional-guides/offa-s-dyke-path
And that he had been on the BBC’s Country File
https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/9036787.bbcs-countryfile-visits-offas-dyke-path/
So we will have to take ArchaeoDog (Dougal) and take up the challenge, following the same walk.
Or we could start from the Offa’s Dyke Centre and go from there.
Here’s one of the Outreach visits that helped make the film
Offa’s Dyke Centre makeover!
The Covid-19 pandemic has been a real struggle for all of us, not least the Offa’s Dyke Centre staff and committee members because just as membership was rising and we had more Outreach and other events planned, it struck and we had to close down.
The good news is that the executive committee membership has increased, the number of trustees has increased and thanks to a successful funding bid, we are re-opening on St. David’s day 2021 with a facelift on the inside!
With the incredible artist Dan Llewelyn Hall putting on an art exhibition, the Offa‘s Dyke YAC and Outreach contacts supplying some creative works and the whole exhibition area being refurbished with new lights and multi-media installed, the centre will be a far more attractive space.
The committee has met several times now in person (we have had lots of meetings online), so it was good to see that other committee members were safe and well.
Here you see a couple of us discussing the new layout for the display space.
I’d love to tell you more now but I don’t want to spoil the surprise!
Wilderness Expertise visiting Offa’s Dyke
We have a great visit planned next year where folks from http://wilderness-expertise.co.uk will be traversing part of Offa’s Dyke with their #developingpotential mantra and we will be doing at least some of the journey with them (The Offa’s Dyke Outreach youngsters walking group).
Planned for the summer of 2021, the group will be met and accompanied by the Outreach officer on a 4/5 day trek along the dyke talking of the archaeology, heritage, personal histories of those living along the dyke over time as well as the impact on the Welsh and the Mercians as ‘borders’ become ever more relevant nowadays.
A wiggle in Offa’s Dyke
“There’s a disruption in the force …” or is it “a wiggle in Offa’s Dyke“?
We visited a section of Offa’s Dyke in Herefordshire where we are going to invite schools in the area and the YAC to maybe help out clear part of the Dyke as well as measure it, draw it, photograph it and clean it!
This is a link to our click to see the walking trip from the Kington Golf Club (thank you for a lovely lunch snack at the cafe too folks) to the section of the Dyke that wiggles.
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About halfway down this map is Kington where Offa’s Dyke takes a detour …why was that do you think? |
An aerial view of the Dyke clearly visible in the landscape. You can see the ‘wiggle’ so why there? Was it a mistake by the builders?
Note the path leaves the Dyke to toddle off down to Knighton.
Did the builders make a mistake?
This seems highly unlikely as the Saxons were very good at building dykes – they had done it for a long time and lets face it the whole of Offa’s Dyke is 170km or so so surely they would not make a silly mistake like this?
At this point, Offa’s Dyke is almost at the top of the hill. Is that a clue?
Note the Offa’s Dyke Path turns off to go to Kington …well it is a lovely place to visit isn’t it.
Click on the images below to see more of what we saw there. There is a lot of bracken and gorse so bring gloves but in the meantime …what do you think about the kink?
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The fence atop the Dyke -
The Dyke is so clearly visible -
The clear bank and ditch of Offa’s Dyke -
Ian and Mel discuss the ‘wiggle’ -
Dougal is definitely impressed -
The original stone? With the gorse and bracken on it -
Imagine the ditch without all this back fill -
The gorse on the top of the Dyke where the sheep haven’t cleaned up -
The path of the Dyke follows the top of the hill still -
Mel standing by the
Offa’s Dyke Path -
The Dyke turns almost 90 degrees Kington -
These rocks didn’t find their own way here … -
The Dyke clear in the landscape -
At the top of the hill? That’s not typical of the Dyke. -
The Dyke facing west -
The view south -
The Dyke facing east -
What glorious views …why did Offa build here? -
Imagining the height of the Dyke when built -
Dave discovers a hidden path sign -
Dave finds a sign! -
The hidden sign reads … -
Ian, Dave and Mel impressed with the landscape
Offa’s Dyke Association Outreach
Offa’s Dyke Association – heritage and archaeological outreach
Welcome to this Offa’s Dyke Association WordPress site dedicated to our archaeology, history and heritage Outreach.
Generically this site is dedicated to our Outreach for schools, clubs and groups, etc. however we also carry out outreach to local groups and clubs as well as local communities if necessary with resources and talks including oral histories, local photography and “History Pins”, stories, anecdotes, history, heritage and guidance on how folks can monitor and protect Offa’s Dyke and Wat’s Dyke all of which feeds into projects in and around the Offa’s Dyke Association and Centre.
These include the Offa’s Dyke Collaboratory (with the incredible Prof. Howard Williams), CoSMM (Community Stewardship of Mercian Monuments thanks to the Offa’s Dyke YAC leaders) and liaising strongly with local community groups, Universities, and our colleagues in Offa’s Dyke Association North and Offa’s Dyke Association South.
With this, we are also co-founders of the Offa’s Dyke YAC (Young Archaeologists Club) which meets (aside from Covid-19) at the Offa’s Dyke Centre, Powys, Knighton, once a month.
For more information please just contact us …
Bibliography and references