Scheduled MonumentsWalesOffa's Dyke: Section extending 120m from Railway to Bronwylfa Road, Legacy
Early Medieval · Linear Earthwork

Offa's Dyke: Section extending 120m from Railway to Bronwylfa Road, Legacy

Denbighshire, Wales
Cadw SAM DE194
Period
Early Medieval
Site type
Linear Earthwork
Broad class
Monument
Nation
Wales
Boundary

Scheduled area

© Mapbox · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Boundary data © Cadw

Overview

History & significance

Offa's Dyke: Section extending 120m from Railway to Bronwylfa Road is an early medieval linear earthwork that forms part of the celebrated frontier fortification traditionally attributed to the eighth-century Kingdom of Mercia. This particular section, protected by Cadw under reference DE194, stretches 120 metres between the railway and Bronwylfa Road, where the substantial bank-and-ditch construction remains visible across the landscape. The earthwork was constructed across challenging terrain underlain by the Pennine and South Wales Middle Coal Measures, a complex geology of mudstone, siltstone, sandstone and ironstone that would have presented considerable engineering difficulties to medieval builders.

The monument's course through Wales reflects the broader system of linear defences that once extended for over 150 kilometres along the Anglo-Welsh border. This section preserves the characteristic morphology of Offa's Dyke in its surviving form, with the ditch positioned to the west facing hostile territory. The underlying coal measures geology has influenced both the survival and character of the earthwork, affecting drainage and erosion patterns across more than a millennium of exposure to the Welsh climate.

Offa's Dyke: Section extending 120m from Railway to Bronwylfa Road, Legacy is a scheduled monument protected by Cadw under reference DE194. View the official record →

About this monument

Questions & answers

What is Offa's Dyke: Section extending 120m from Railway to Bronwylfa Road, Legacy?

Offa's Dyke: Section extending 120m from Railway to Bronwylfa Road is an early medieval linear earthwork that forms part of the celebrated frontier fortification traditionally attributed to the eighth-century Kingdom of Mercia. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Cadw under reference DE194.

What period does Offa's Dyke: Section extending 120m from Railway to Bronwylfa Road, Legacy date from?

Offa's Dyke: Section extending 120m from Railway to Bronwylfa Road, Legacy dates from the early medieval period, and is classified as a linear earthwork. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.

Who is responsible for protecting Offa's Dyke: Section extending 120m from Railway to Bronwylfa Road, Legacy?

Offa's Dyke: Section extending 120m from Railway to Bronwylfa Road, Legacy is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Cadw — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Wales. The official designation reference is DE194.

What other scheduled monuments are near Offa's Dyke: Section extending 120m from Railway to Bronwylfa Road, Legacy?

Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Wynnstay Colliery Winding Engine House (5.1 km), Offa's Dyke: Section N of Home Farm (5.3 km), Darland Wood Round Barrows (6.3 km).

Unlimited access

Everything a full report reveals about Offa's Dyke: Section extending 120m from Railway to Bronwylfa Road, Legacy

This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 13 strands of Offa's Dyke: Section extending 120m from Railway to Bronwylfa Road, Legacy's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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The ground beneath

The bedrock under Offa's Dyke: Section extending 120m from Railway to Bronwylfa Road, Legacy

Offa's Dyke: Section extending 120m from Railway to Bronwylfa Road, Legacy stands on Pennine Middle Coal Measures Formation And South Wales Middle Coal Measures Formation (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Moscovian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete.

The wider landscape

Around Offa's Dyke: Section extending 120m from Railway to Bronwylfa Road, Legacy

Battle of Rowton Heath 1645Battle (1645) · ~13.3 milesBattle of Shrewsbury 1403Battle (1403) · ~23.3 miles