Nico Ditch: A Greater Manchester Earthwork

• Nico Ditch is a 6 mi (9.7 km) long earthwork in Greater Manchester between Ashton-under-Lyne and Stretford.
• It was created sometime between the 5th and 11th centuries.
• The ditch may have been a defensive fortification or boundary marker.
• Surviving sections are 4–5 yards (3.7–4.6 m) wide and up to 5 ft (1.5 m) deep.
• A portion of the earthwork has been designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Etymology

• The earliest reference to the ditch appears in a charter from 1190 to 1212, granting land in Audenshaw to Kersal Cell monks, calling it "Mykelldiche" and magnum fossatum, Latin for "large ditch".
• The name "Nico" became common in the 19th and 20th centuries.
• "Nico" may come from the Anglo-Saxon term Hnickar, a water spirit, but more likely evolved from "Mykelldiche".
• The Anglo-Saxon word micel means "big" or "great".
• Another possible origin for "Nico" is the Anglo-Saxon verb nǽcan, meaning "kill".

Course

• The ditch runs 6 mi (9.7 km) from Ashton Moss (SJ909980) in Ashton-under-Lyne to Hough Moss (SJ82819491) east of Stretford.
• It traverses Denton, Reddish, Gorton, Levenshulme, Burnage, Rusholme, Platt Fields Park, Withington, and Chorlton-cum-Hardy.
• The ditch crosses four metropolitan boroughs in Greater Manchester.
• It marks boundaries between Stockport and Manchester, and Tameside and Manchester.
• Part of the ditch is now under the Audenshaw Reservoirs.
• The ditch may have originally extended west to Urmston (SJ78299504).

History

• Nico Ditch was built between the end of Roman rule in Britain (early 5th century) and the Norman conquest (1066).
• Its purpose is not definitively known, but possibilities include defensive fortification or administrative boundary.
• It may have been a 7th-century boundary for Anglo-Saxon expansion or an 8th/9th-century boundary between Mercia and Northumbria.
• During the early medieval period, Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex fought for control of North West England with the Britons and Danes.
• The ditch has served as a boundary since at least the Middle Ages, regardless of its earlier uses.
• Legend says the inhabitants of Manchester completed it in a single night to defend against Viking invaders in 869–870, after Manchester was sacked by the Danes in 870.
• Folklore suggests a battle at the ditch gave Gorton and Reddish their names ("Gore Town" and "Red-Ditch"), but historians dismiss this.
• The names Gorton and Reddish actually mean "dirty farmstead" and "reedy ditch," respectively.
• Antiquarians and historians have studied the ditch since the 19th century, but much of it has been built over.
• Between 1990 and 1997, the University of Manchester Archaeological Unit excavated sections in Denton, Reddish, Levenshulme, and Platt Fields.
• The excavations aimed to determine the ditch's age and purpose.
• The investigations found that the bank north of the ditch originated in the 20th century.
• The ditch's U-shape suggests it was a territorial boundary marker instead of a military defense.
• The project concluded that the ditch was probably a boundary marker.

Preservation

• Despite weathering, the ditch remains visible in short sections 4–5 yards (3.7–4.6 m) wide and up to 5 ft (1.5 m) deep.
• The best-preserved sections are in Denton Golf Course (330 yards / 300 m) and Platt Fields Park.
• A 150-yard (140 m) segment in Platt Fields was protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument in 1997.
• The remainder of the ditch is unprotected.