Welsh Journals

Srrtjelngia €wkmsiL THIRD SERIES, No. V.—JANUARY, 1856. OFFA'S DYKE AND WAT'S DYKE. Although these two great earthen works are known with tolerable accuracy throughout the greatest part of their course, yet portions towards their terminations are still not made out. Thus the exact spot where Offa's Dyke touches on the estuary of the Dee, or rather the sea, is not yet found, though its precise ending between the Severn and the Wye, close to the meeting of the two rivers, may be considered as ascertained. Wat's Dyke may be followed to within two hundred yards or three hundred yards of its northern ending at Basingwerk, but its southern ending is in the lower grounds of Shropshire, and it cannot be traced down to the Severn as might have been expected. Until lately some confusion existed in the minds of antiquaries concerning the two dykes, and one has been confounded with the other. This indeed is an error of early date, as will be perceived from the extract of Higden's Polychronicon given below. Higden confounds the two dykes at their northern termination, and makes Offa's Dyke run down to the Dee at Basingwerk, whereas it is Wat's Dyke that does this, while Offa's keeps up on the higher lands of Flint¬ shire, and continues its course towards Prestatyn. In fact, until the careful labours of the Ordnance sur- ARCH. CAMB., THIRD SERIES, VOL. II. B