1 October 2018

Offa's Dyke seminar and excavations

Last month we ran a day school on behalf of the Offa's Dyke Collaboratory, an initiative which I wrote about earlier in the year. In contrast to previous events, this was very much an opportunity for local groups and individuals to come and present their work and to discuss their approaches to Offa's Dyke and the world of Mercian border studies more generally. The event, which took place in Oswestry, was followed by a visit to the ongoing CPAT excavations at Chirk Castle.


CPAT stalwart Ian Grant talking to day school delegates at Chirk Castle.

The event enabled a wide range of views to be presented. This is the programme for the day.


Highlights included Niall Heaton's presentation on the Dyke at Trefonen - a very engaging and confident contribution from a teenager's perspective which turned a few ideas on their heads in a very welcome way. Mel Roxby-Mackey explained the interesting ways in which the CoSMM project hopes to develop. Dick Finch and Ray Bailey (the latter accidentally without any slides) gave fresh and unconventional approaches to the Dyke at - or even beyond - its conventionally-established extremes.

All in all an excellent day, and we hope to be able to follow this up in 2019 with another communit-led event.



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