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.

About halfway down this map is Kington where Offa’s Dyke takes a detour …why was that do you think?
The path of Offa’s Dyke with Kington just about central

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.

Offa’s Dyke and path at Kington
Offa’s Dyke kink at Kington (,

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?


Citations:

Inner Earth Soaps (no date) Bloglovin’. Available at: https://frame.bloglovin.com/ (Accessed: 21 February 2025).
CCAG (2018) ‘The Chestnut Community Action Group.’ Available at: https://ccagworcester.com/.
Bassett, T. (2018) Tanya Bassett, CCAG. Available at: https://ccagworcester.com/.
Roxby-Mackey, M. (2018) Melanie Roxby-Mackey, Archaeologist, CCAG, ARA, Offa’s Dyke Association. Available at: archaeoborders.wordpress.com.
Squires, J. (2018) Joy Squires, CCAG. Available at: https://ccagworcester.com/.
Mackey, I. (2018) Ian Mackey, Archaeological Outreach, CCAG, ARA, Offa’s Dyke Association. Available at: https://linktr.ee/iwm21.
Fowler, G. (2018) Graham Fowler, Worcester Canal Group.
Squires, G. (2018) George Squires, CCAG. Available at: https://ccagworcester.com/.
Harker, C. (2018) Clare Harker, ARA. Available at: https://ccagworcester.com/ara/.
Whitelaw, R. (2023) ‘Arboretum Residents’ Association (ARA)’.
Fowler, G. (2023) ‘The Worcester Canal Group’.
Whitelaw, R. (2018) Bob Whitelaw, ARA. Available at: https://ccagworcester.com/ara/.
Renfrew, C. and Bahn, P. (2012) Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice. Thames & Hudson.
Rencontre assyriologique internationale, Kogan, L.E. and Rossiĭskiĭ gosudarstvennyĭ gumanitarnyĭ universitet (2010) City Administration in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 53e Rencontre assyriologique internationale. Vol. 2. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns. Available at: http://site.ebrary.com/id/10495955 (Accessed: 27 July 2016).
Reilly, P. and Rahtz, S. (1992) Archaeology and the information age. A global perspective. Routledge. London: Routledge.
Recording Archaeology (2016) The “Arty” Way - Dutch Approach to the Presentation of Archaeological Heritage. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oorjsWARe0U&list=TLGG-03FF-7AGnIzMTEwMjAxNg (Accessed: 31 October 2016).
Purbrick, L., Aulich, J. and Dawson, G. (eds) (2007) Contested Spaces: Sites, Representations and Histories of Conflict. Basingstoke, Hampshire ; New York: AIAA.
Price, F.G.H. (1881) ‘Camps on the Malvern Hills.’, The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 10, pp. 319–331. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/2841529.
Hodder, I. and Cessford, C. (2004) ‘Daily Practice and Social Memory at Çatalhöyük’, American Antiquity, 69(1), pp. 17–40. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/4128346.
Gronow, A. (2006) ‘Book Review : Social Theory and Human Reality’, European Journal of Social Theory, 9(2), pp. 300–303. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1368431006063592.
Grinsell, L. (2016) ‘Carrying flint cores to Mendip’, Lithics–The Journal of the Lithic Studies Society, (6), p. 15. Available at: http://journal.lithics.org/index.php/lithics/article/download/651/636 (Accessed: 18 November 2016).
Gillings, M. (2012) ‘Landscape Phenomenology, GIS and the Role of Affordance’, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 19(4), pp. 601–611. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-012-9137-4.
Fleming, A. (2006) ‘Post-processual Landscape Archaeology: a Critique’, Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 16(03), pp. 267–280. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774306000163.
Bevan, A. and Conolly, J. (2012) ‘Intensive Survey Data from Antikythera, Greece’, Journal of Open Archaeology Data, 1(0). Available at: https://doi.org/10.5334/4f3bcb3f7f21d.
Barnes, I. (2003) ‘Aerial remote-sensing techniques used in the management of archaeological monuments on the British Army’s Salisbury Plain Training Area, Wiltshire, UK’, Archaeological Prospection, 10(2), pp. 83–90. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/arp.197.
Armstrong, K., Darvill, T. and Cheetham, P. (2009) ‘Archaeological geophysical prospection in peatland environments: Case studies and suggestions for future practice’, ArcheoSciences. Revue d’archéométrie, (33 (suppl.)), pp. 251–253. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4000/archeosciences.1646.
Abate, D. and David, M. (2015) ‘Out of the archaeologist’s desk drawer: communicating archaeological data online’, ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, II(5), pp. 1–7. Available at: https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org.ezproxyd.bham.ac.uk/10.5194/isprsannals-II-5-W3-1-2015.
Low, S.M. (ed.) (2003) The Anthropology of Space and Place: Locating Culture. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Llobera, M. (2012) ‘Life on a Pixel: Challenges in the Development of Digital Methods Within an “Interpretive” Landscape Archaeology Framework’, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 19(4), pp. 495–509. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-012-9139-2.
Richards-Rissetto, H. et al. (2012) ‘Kinect and 3D GIS in archaeology’, in 2012 18th International Conference on Virtual Systems and Multimedia (VSMM). 2012 18th International Conference on Virtual Systems and Multimedia (VSMM), pp. 331–337. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1109/VSMM.2012.6365942.
Dore, C. and Murphy, M. (2012) ‘Integration of Historic Building Information Modeling (HBIM) and 3D GIS for recording and managing cultural heritage sites’, in 2012 18th International Conference on Virtual Systems and Multimedia (VSMM). 2012 18th International Conference on Virtual Systems and Multimedia (VSMM), pp. 369–376. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1109/VSMM.2012.6365947.
Default Goo Project (2015) Goo Create. Available at: http://goote.ch/3a039651d2ea4e309bb32dc0578c12aa.project.
Barazzetti, L. et al. (2011) ‘Photogrammetric survey of complex geometries with low-cost software: Application to the ‘G1′ temple in Myson, Vietnam’, Journal of Cultural Heritage, 12(3), pp. 253–262. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2010.12.004.
Berndt, R. et al. (2010) ‘A publishing workflow for cultural heritage artifacts from 3D-reconstruction to Internet presentation’, in Digital Heritage. Third International Conference, EuroMed 2010 Lemessos, Cyprus, November 8-13, 2010 Proceedings. Euromed, Lemessos, Cyprus: Marinos Ioannides, Dieter Fellner, Andreas Georgopoulos, Diofantos G. Hadjimitsis (eds.), pp. 166–178. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-16873-4_13.
Balletti, C. et al. (2014) ‘Calibration of Action Cameras for Photogrammetric Purposes’, Sensors, 14(9), pp. 17471–17490. Available at: http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/14/9/17471/htm.
Skala, V., Pan, R. and Nedved, O. (2014) Making 3D replicas using a flatbed scanner and a 3D printer. Translated by Associacao Portuguesa de Investigacao Operacional; Kyushu Sangyo University (KSU); Monash University; Universidade do Minho; University of Basilicata; University of Perugia. Guimaraes: Springer Verlag (14th International Conference on Computational Science and Its Applications, ICCSA 2014). Available at: http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84904860589&partnerID=40&md5=ac59dff921ecd4295652cf7364c3a880.
(spreadshirt) (2024) See us Live, Beltane Border Morris. Available at: https://www.beltaneborder.co.uk/seeuslive (Accessed: 25 October 2024).
(Arcane Alchemy) (2020) The Pagan Origins of Wassailing, Arcane Alchemy. Available at: http://www.arcane-alchemy.com/blog/2020/12/21/the-pagan-origins-of-wassailing (Accessed: 25 October 2024).
(Druidry .org) (2023) ‘Samhain / Samhuinn - Rituals & Traditions | Halloween | OBOD’, 1 November. Available at: https://druidry.org/druid-way/teaching-and-practice/druid-festivals/samhain-festival (Accessed: 27 October 2024).
(Norse Imports) (2024) Norse Calendar & Pagan Holidays Wheel of the Year Explained with Sourc. Available at: https://norseimports.com/blogs/news/norse-calendar-pagan-holidays-wheel-of-the-year-explained (Accessed: 26 October 2024).
(Worcester News) (2024) ‘Controversial 92-home plan rejected by council’, Worcester News, 18 October. Available at: https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/24657057.92-home-plan-stocks-lane-newland-rejected-council/ (Accessed: 20 October 2024).
(Worcester News) (2024) Dig into Worcestershire’s history for Archaeology Day 2024, Worcester News. Available at: https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/24657354.dig-worcestershires-history-archaeology-day-2024/ (Accessed: 20 October 2024).
Actionbound - digital tour (2016). Available at: https://en.actionbound.com/bound/iwm21 (Accessed: 4 August 2016).
Actionbound – Create your own scavenger hunt for mobile devices – GPS treasure hunt app – iPad rally – Tablet tour (2016). Available at: https://en.actionbound.com/create/iwm21 (Accessed: 2 September 2016).
‘Charities and groups we support’ (2020) CCAG Worcester, 17 March. Available at: https://ccagworcester.com/about-us/charities-we-support/ (Accessed: 7 February 2025).
Online Resources: Map Index - Worcestershire Archive & Archaeology Service (2020). Available at: https://www.explorethepast.co.uk/2020/05/online-resources-map-index/ (Accessed: 7 February 2025).
Programmable Search Engine (no date). Available at: https://cse.google.com/cse?cx=004988112283334510717%3Adtvnxsp4ug8&ie=UTF-8&q=WR1+1PB (Accessed: 7 February 2025).
County maps of Worcestershire, 1660s-1960s - Map images - National Library of Scotland (no date). Available at: https://maps.nls.uk/counties/worcestershire.html (Accessed: 7 February 2025).
County maps of Worcestershire, 1660s-1960s - Map images - National Library of Scotland (no date). Available at: https://maps.nls.uk/counties/worcestershire.html (Accessed: 7 February 2025).

Offa’s Dyke Association Outreach

Welcome to this Offa’s Dyke Association WordPress site dedicated to 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 …

Tel: 01547 528753
Email: oda@offasdyke.org.uk
Email: odaoutreach@gmail.com (Ian Mackey)
Email: offasdykeyac@gmail.com

Post: Information Officer
Offa’s Dyke Association
West Street
Knighton
Powys. LD7 1EN.


Inner Earth Soaps (no date) Bloglovin’. Available at: https://frame.bloglovin.com/ (Accessed: 21 February 2025).
CCAG (2018) ‘The Chestnut Community Action Group.’ Available at: https://ccagworcester.com/.
Bassett, T. (2018) Tanya Bassett, CCAG. Available at: https://ccagworcester.com/.
Roxby-Mackey, M. (2018) Melanie Roxby-Mackey, Archaeologist, CCAG, ARA, Offa’s Dyke Association. Available at: archaeoborders.wordpress.com.
Squires, J. (2018) Joy Squires, CCAG. Available at: https://ccagworcester.com/.
Mackey, I. (2018) Ian Mackey, Archaeological Outreach, CCAG, ARA, Offa’s Dyke Association. Available at: https://linktr.ee/iwm21.
Fowler, G. (2018) Graham Fowler, Worcester Canal Group.
Squires, G. (2018) George Squires, CCAG. Available at: https://ccagworcester.com/.
Harker, C. (2018) Clare Harker, ARA. Available at: https://ccagworcester.com/ara/.
Whitelaw, R. (2023) ‘Arboretum Residents’ Association (ARA)’.
Fowler, G. (2023) ‘The Worcester Canal Group’.
Whitelaw, R. (2018) Bob Whitelaw, ARA. Available at: https://ccagworcester.com/ara/.
Renfrew, C. and Bahn, P. (2012) Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice. Thames & Hudson.
Rencontre assyriologique internationale, Kogan, L.E. and Rossiĭskiĭ gosudarstvennyĭ gumanitarnyĭ universitet (2010) City Administration in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 53e Rencontre assyriologique internationale. Vol. 2. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns. Available at: http://site.ebrary.com/id/10495955 (Accessed: 27 July 2016).
Reilly, P. and Rahtz, S. (1992) Archaeology and the information age. A global perspective. Routledge. London: Routledge.
Recording Archaeology (2016) The “Arty” Way - Dutch Approach to the Presentation of Archaeological Heritage. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oorjsWARe0U&list=TLGG-03FF-7AGnIzMTEwMjAxNg (Accessed: 31 October 2016).
Purbrick, L., Aulich, J. and Dawson, G. (eds) (2007) Contested Spaces: Sites, Representations and Histories of Conflict. Basingstoke, Hampshire ; New York: AIAA.
Price, F.G.H. (1881) ‘Camps on the Malvern Hills.’, The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 10, pp. 319–331. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/2841529.
Hodder, I. and Cessford, C. (2004) ‘Daily Practice and Social Memory at Çatalhöyük’, American Antiquity, 69(1), pp. 17–40. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/4128346.
Gronow, A. (2006) ‘Book Review : Social Theory and Human Reality’, European Journal of Social Theory, 9(2), pp. 300–303. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1368431006063592.
Grinsell, L. (2016) ‘Carrying flint cores to Mendip’, Lithics–The Journal of the Lithic Studies Society, (6), p. 15. Available at: http://journal.lithics.org/index.php/lithics/article/download/651/636 (Accessed: 18 November 2016).
Gillings, M. (2012) ‘Landscape Phenomenology, GIS and the Role of Affordance’, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 19(4), pp. 601–611. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-012-9137-4.
Fleming, A. (2006) ‘Post-processual Landscape Archaeology: a Critique’, Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 16(03), pp. 267–280. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774306000163.
Bevan, A. and Conolly, J. (2012) ‘Intensive Survey Data from Antikythera, Greece’, Journal of Open Archaeology Data, 1(0). Available at: https://doi.org/10.5334/4f3bcb3f7f21d.
Barnes, I. (2003) ‘Aerial remote-sensing techniques used in the management of archaeological monuments on the British Army’s Salisbury Plain Training Area, Wiltshire, UK’, Archaeological Prospection, 10(2), pp. 83–90. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/arp.197.
Armstrong, K., Darvill, T. and Cheetham, P. (2009) ‘Archaeological geophysical prospection in peatland environments: Case studies and suggestions for future practice’, ArcheoSciences. Revue d’archéométrie, (33 (suppl.)), pp. 251–253. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4000/archeosciences.1646.
Abate, D. and David, M. (2015) ‘Out of the archaeologist’s desk drawer: communicating archaeological data online’, ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, II(5), pp. 1–7. Available at: https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org.ezproxyd.bham.ac.uk/10.5194/isprsannals-II-5-W3-1-2015.
Low, S.M. (ed.) (2003) The Anthropology of Space and Place: Locating Culture. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Llobera, M. (2012) ‘Life on a Pixel: Challenges in the Development of Digital Methods Within an “Interpretive” Landscape Archaeology Framework’, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 19(4), pp. 495–509. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-012-9139-2.
Richards-Rissetto, H. et al. (2012) ‘Kinect and 3D GIS in archaeology’, in 2012 18th International Conference on Virtual Systems and Multimedia (VSMM). 2012 18th International Conference on Virtual Systems and Multimedia (VSMM), pp. 331–337. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1109/VSMM.2012.6365942.
Dore, C. and Murphy, M. (2012) ‘Integration of Historic Building Information Modeling (HBIM) and 3D GIS for recording and managing cultural heritage sites’, in 2012 18th International Conference on Virtual Systems and Multimedia (VSMM). 2012 18th International Conference on Virtual Systems and Multimedia (VSMM), pp. 369–376. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1109/VSMM.2012.6365947.
Default Goo Project (2015) Goo Create. Available at: http://goote.ch/3a039651d2ea4e309bb32dc0578c12aa.project.
Barazzetti, L. et al. (2011) ‘Photogrammetric survey of complex geometries with low-cost software: Application to the ‘G1′ temple in Myson, Vietnam’, Journal of Cultural Heritage, 12(3), pp. 253–262. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2010.12.004.
Berndt, R. et al. (2010) ‘A publishing workflow for cultural heritage artifacts from 3D-reconstruction to Internet presentation’, in Digital Heritage. Third International Conference, EuroMed 2010 Lemessos, Cyprus, November 8-13, 2010 Proceedings. Euromed, Lemessos, Cyprus: Marinos Ioannides, Dieter Fellner, Andreas Georgopoulos, Diofantos G. Hadjimitsis (eds.), pp. 166–178. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-16873-4_13.
Balletti, C. et al. (2014) ‘Calibration of Action Cameras for Photogrammetric Purposes’, Sensors, 14(9), pp. 17471–17490. Available at: http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/14/9/17471/htm.
Skala, V., Pan, R. and Nedved, O. (2014) Making 3D replicas using a flatbed scanner and a 3D printer. Translated by Associacao Portuguesa de Investigacao Operacional; Kyushu Sangyo University (KSU); Monash University; Universidade do Minho; University of Basilicata; University of Perugia. Guimaraes: Springer Verlag (14th International Conference on Computational Science and Its Applications, ICCSA 2014). Available at: http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84904860589&partnerID=40&md5=ac59dff921ecd4295652cf7364c3a880.
(spreadshirt) (2024) See us Live, Beltane Border Morris. Available at: https://www.beltaneborder.co.uk/seeuslive (Accessed: 25 October 2024).
(Arcane Alchemy) (2020) The Pagan Origins of Wassailing, Arcane Alchemy. Available at: http://www.arcane-alchemy.com/blog/2020/12/21/the-pagan-origins-of-wassailing (Accessed: 25 October 2024).
(Druidry .org) (2023) ‘Samhain / Samhuinn - Rituals & Traditions | Halloween | OBOD’, 1 November. Available at: https://druidry.org/druid-way/teaching-and-practice/druid-festivals/samhain-festival (Accessed: 27 October 2024).
(Norse Imports) (2024) Norse Calendar & Pagan Holidays Wheel of the Year Explained with Sourc. Available at: https://norseimports.com/blogs/news/norse-calendar-pagan-holidays-wheel-of-the-year-explained (Accessed: 26 October 2024).
(Worcester News) (2024) ‘Controversial 92-home plan rejected by council’, Worcester News, 18 October. Available at: https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/24657057.92-home-plan-stocks-lane-newland-rejected-council/ (Accessed: 20 October 2024).
(Worcester News) (2024) Dig into Worcestershire’s history for Archaeology Day 2024, Worcester News. Available at: https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/24657354.dig-worcestershires-history-archaeology-day-2024/ (Accessed: 20 October 2024).
Actionbound - digital tour (2016). Available at: https://en.actionbound.com/bound/iwm21 (Accessed: 4 August 2016).
Actionbound – Create your own scavenger hunt for mobile devices – GPS treasure hunt app – iPad rally – Tablet tour (2016). Available at: https://en.actionbound.com/create/iwm21 (Accessed: 2 September 2016).
‘Charities and groups we support’ (2020) CCAG Worcester, 17 March. Available at: https://ccagworcester.com/about-us/charities-we-support/ (Accessed: 7 February 2025).
Online Resources: Map Index - Worcestershire Archive & Archaeology Service (2020). Available at: https://www.explorethepast.co.uk/2020/05/online-resources-map-index/ (Accessed: 7 February 2025).
Programmable Search Engine (no date). Available at: https://cse.google.com/cse?cx=004988112283334510717%3Adtvnxsp4ug8&ie=UTF-8&q=WR1+1PB (Accessed: 7 February 2025).
County maps of Worcestershire, 1660s-1960s - Map images - National Library of Scotland (no date). Available at: https://maps.nls.uk/counties/worcestershire.html (Accessed: 7 February 2025).
County maps of Worcestershire, 1660s-1960s - Map images - National Library of Scotland (no date). Available at: https://maps.nls.uk/counties/worcestershire.html (Accessed: 7 February 2025).

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