Nico Ditch: A Medieval Earthwork

• Nico Ditch is a 6-mile (9.7 km) linear earthwork in Greater Manchester, England.
• It stretches between Ashton-under-Lyne and Stretford.
• The ditch was constructed between the 5th and 11th centuries.
• The purpose of the ditch was either as a defensive fortification or a boundary marker.
• Surviving sections of the ditch are 4–5 yards (3.7–4.6 m) wide and up to 5 feet (1.5 m) deep.
• A section of the earthwork is protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Etymology

• The earliest reference to the ditch is in a charter from 1190–1212.
• In the charter, the ditch is referred to as "Mykelldiche" and magnum fossatum, Latin for "large ditch".
• The name Nico became established in the 19th and 20th century.
• Nico may be derived from the Anglo-Saxon Hnickar, a water spirit.
• The modern name is most likely a corruption of Mykelldiche, where micel means "big".
• An alternative derivation of Nico comes from nǽcan, an Anglo-Saxon verb meaning "kill".

Course

• Nico Ditch stretches from Ashton Moss in Ashton-under-Lyne to Hough Moss, east of Stretford.
• It passes through Denton, Reddish, Gorton, Levenshulme, Burnage, Rusholme, Platt Fields Park, Withington, and Chorlton-cum-Hardy
• The ditch crosses four metropolitan boroughs of present-day Greater Manchester.
• It coincides with the boundaries between Stockport and Manchester, and Tameside and Manchester.
• It reaches the Denton golf course.
• A section is now beneath the Audenshaw Reservoirs.
• The ditch may have extended west beyond Stretford to Urmston.

History

• The earthwork was constructed between the 5th century and the Norman conquest in 1066.
• Its original purpose may have been a defensive fortification or an administrative boundary.
• It may have marked a 7th-century boundary for the expansionist Anglo-Saxons.
• It could have been a late 8th or early 9th century boundary marker between Mercia and Northumbria.
• In the early medieval period, Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex struggled for control over North West England.
• The ditch has been used as a boundary since at least the Middle Ages.
• Legend says the ditch was completed in one night by the inhabitants of Manchester to protect against Viking invaders in 869–870.
• Each man had to dig his section and build a bank equal to his height.
• 19th century folklore says the ditch was the site of a battle between Saxons and Danes.
• The towns of Gorton and Reddish were said to derive their names from this battle, but this idea is not considered accurate.
• Historians say Gorton means "dirty farmstead" and Reddish means "reedy ditch".
• Antiquarians and historians have been interested in the ditch since the 19th century.
• Between 1990 and 1997, the University of Manchester Archaeological Unit excavated sections of the ditch to determine its age and purpose.
• The investigations revealed that the bank to the north of the ditch is of 20th century origin.
• The ditch's profile is U-shaped, suggesting it was a territorial boundary marker.
• The conclusion of the project was that the ditch was probably a boundary marker.

Preservation

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