Offa's Dyke

Helen Mark travels to Offa's Dyke, a huge earthwork that stretches 150 miles through North Wales and England. It was built by Offa King of Mercia in the 8th century to draw an English line across the landscape, separating two cultures.

There’s a Welsh expression about crossing Offa’s Dyke, meaning to cross over into England, and Helen visits the borderland of Shropshire and North Wales to find out how the inhabitants past and present define their identity as either Welsh, English or Border people.

Helen starts in Oswestry in North West Shropshire, and meets archeologist Ian Bapty who says that by building the dyke, Offa helped to establish a sense of nationhood among the people of modern day Wales.

Helen meets ecologist Stuart Moody who, on behalf of British Waterways, is helping restore the Montgomery Canal. It’s not only a haven for wildlife, but it was an important transport link between England and Wales and is dear to people on both sides of the border, not least because it is home to rare flora.

Erica Morgan is a commoner on the old Oswestry Racecourse. Together with the Racecourse Management Committee, she is helping to preserve the land on this elevated plateau that offers spectacular vistas of the Shropshire and Cheshire plains on one side and of the Welsh Hills on the other. She takes Helen around the course and tells her about its racing heyday in the 19th century, when Border people would meet at the races to socialise and enjoy the sport.

Spencer Smith is an archeologist who is trying to unearth the truth about the 15th century Welsh rebel Owen Glyndwr. Digs at his former manorial home reveal that the man may have been misrepresented throughout history as a lawless warrior when in fact he was a retired country landowner married into an English family prior to the Welsh uprisings. Spencer sees his work as part of an important study into life on the borders and how it has shaped the community throughout the centuries.

Finally, Helen visits the tiny church of St Peter’s in the village of Melverley. This timber-framed building sits on the banks of the River Vyrnwy, which is still the border between Wales and England. The original church was burnt down by Owen Glyndwr and has survived floods ever since. Helen meets church warden Lynne Lloyd and reflects on whether building a church right on the river bank may have been a statement of Englishness, even though the church has been both Welsh and English throughout the centuries.

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