Offa's Dyke: section on St Briavels Common, immediately south of Sittingreen

Scheduled area

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History & significance

Offa's Dyke is a linear earthwork that forms part of the most substantial surviving section of the eighth-century frontier monument constructed under the direction of King Offa of Mercia. The section on St Briavels Common, immediately south of Sittingreen in Gloucestershire, comprises a substantial bank with an external ditch, running broadly north to south across the common and representing the characteristic construction method employed along this portion of the Welsh border. Dating to the late eighth century, this stretch of the dyke demonstrates the engineering ambition of Mercian authority in defining territorial control between the Anglo-Saxon kingdom and Welsh polities. The earthwork remains prominent in the landscape, its physical form preserving evidence of a major military and political undertaking that shaped the political geography of the Anglo-Welsh borderlands for centuries to come.

Offa's Dyke: section on St Briavels Common, immediately south of Sittingreen is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1020525. View the official record →

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