Editing Offa's Dyke (section)

===Background===
[[File:Mercian Supremacy x 4 alt.png|thumb|The extent of Mercia during the [[Mercian Supremacy]], showing the line of Offa's Dyke (red)]]
[[File:Wat's dyke.png|thumb|right|[[Wat's Dyke]] in brown; Offa's Dyke in red]]
[[File:Offa's Dyke cross-section colour.svg|thumb|Schematic cross-section of Offa's Dyke, showing the design intended to protect Mercia against attacks/raids from Powys.]]

{{Unreferenced section|date=October 2019}}

The generally accepted theory of the earthwork attributes most of its construction to [[Offa of Mercia|Offa]], king of [[Mercia]] from 757 to 796. The structure did not represent a mutually agreed boundary between the Mercians and the [[Kingdom of Powys]]. It had a ditch on the Welsh (western) side, with the displaced soil piled into a bank on the Mercian (eastern) side. This suggests that Mercians constructed it as a defensive earthwork, or to demonstrate the power and intent of their kingdom.

Throughout its entire length, the [[Levee|dyke]] provides an uninterrupted view from Mercia into Wales. Where the earthwork encounters hills or high ground, it passes to the west of them.

Although historians often overlook Offa's reign because of limitations in source material, he ranks as one of the greatest Anglo-Saxon rulers – as evidenced in his ability to raise the workforce and resources required to construct the dyke. Those requirements were immense – when [[Michael Wood (historian)|Michael Wood]] approached motorway contractors in the late 1970s regarding potential costs in present terms they "threw up their hands in dismay... impossible, they said."<ref>{{cite web |author1=[[Michael Wood (historian)|Michael Wood]] |title=In Search of Offa |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=104&v=S8l_DX9Zjrg&feature=youtu.be |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=13 March 2025 |language=en |date=2 January 1979}}</ref> The construction of the earthwork probably involved a ''[[corvée]]'' system requiring [[vassal]]s to build certain lengths of the earthwork for Offa in addition to performing their normal services to their king. The [[Tribal Hidage]], a primary document, shows the distribution of land within 8th-century Britain; it shows that peoples were located within specified territories for administration.