Nico Ditch: Ancient Boundary

• Nico Ditch is a 6 mi (9.7 km) linear earthwork between Ashton-under-Lyne and Stretford, Greater Manchester.
• It was built between the 5th and 11th centuries.
• The original purpose of the ditch was either for defence or as a boundary marker.
• Some parts of it is still visible with the ditch being 4–5 yards (3.7–4.6 m) wide and up to 5 ft (1.5 m) deep.
• Part of the earthwork is protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Etymology

• The earliest reference to the ditch is in a land charter from 1190-1212, calling it "Mykelldiche" and magnum fossatum (Latin for "large ditch").
• The name Nico became established in the 19th and 20th century.
• Nico might be derived from the Anglo-Saxon Hnickar, a water spirit.
• The modern name is likely a corruption of Mykelldiche, where micel means "big" or "great".
• Another possible origin for Nico is from the Anglo-Saxon verb nǽcan, meaning "to kill".

Course

• The ditch stretches 6 mi (9.7 km) from Ashton Moss (SJ909980) to Hough Moss (SJ82819491), east of Stretford.
• It passes through Denton, Reddish, Gorton, Levenshulme, Burnage, Rusholme, Platt Fields Park, Withington, and Chorlton-cum-Hardy.
• It crosses four metropolitan boroughs of Greater Manchester.
• The ditch coincides with the boundaries between Stockport and Manchester, and Tameside and Manchester.
• A section is under the Audenshaw Reservoirs.
• The ditch may have extended west to Urmston (SJ78299504).

History

• The earthwork was built between the end of Roman rule in Britain (early 5th century) and the Norman conquest (1066).

• It may have been a defensive fortification or an administrative boundary.

• It possibly marked a 7th-century boundary for the Anglo-Saxons, or a late 8th/early 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 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 claimed the ditch was the site of a battle between Saxons and Danes.

• The names Gorton and Reddish were said to come from "Gore Town" and "Red-Ditch", but historians dismiss this as a "popular fancy".

• The names Gorton and Reddish actually derive from "dirty farmstead" and "reedy ditch" respectively.

• Antiquarians and historians have been interested in the ditch since the 19th century.

• From 1990-1997, the University of Manchester Archaeological Unit excavated sections of the ditch to determine its age and purpose.

• Investigations showed the bank north of the ditch is of 20th-century origin.

• The ditch's U-shape suggests it was a territorial boundary marker.

• The project concluded that the ditch was probably a boundary marker.

Preservation

• The ditch is still visible in short sections, up to 4–5 yards (3.7–4.6 m) wide and up to 5 ft (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 in Platt Fields was protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument in 1997.
• The rest of the ditch remains unprotected.