Nico Ditch: History and Purpose

• Nico Ditch is a 6 mi (9.7 km) linear earthwork in Greater Manchester, England.
• It stretches between Ashton-under-Lyne and Stretford.
• It was built between the 5th and 11th centuries.
• Its purpose was for defense or as a 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 protected status as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Etymology

• The earliest reference to the ditch is in a charter from 1190-1212.
• The charter details land grants in Audenshaw to Kersal Cell monks.
• The ditch was called "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 Hnickar (a water spirit).
• It is likely a corruption of Mykelldiche, where micel means "big" in Anglo-Saxon.
• Another possible origin is from nǽcan, an Anglo-Saxon verb meaning "kill".

Course

• Nico Ditch runs 6 mi (9.7 km) from Ashton Moss to Hough Moss (east of Stretford).
• It goes through Denton, Reddish, Gorton, Levenshulme, Burnage, Rusholme, Platt Fields Park, Withington, & Chorlton-cum-Hardy.
• It crosses four boroughs of Greater Manchester.
• The ditch marks boundaries between Stockport and Manchester, and Tameside and Manchester.
• It extends to Denton golf course.
• Part of the ditch is under the Audenshaw Reservoirs, built in the late 19th century.
• It may have stretched west beyond Stretford, to Urmston.

History

• The ditch was built between the 5th century (end of Roman rule) and the Norman conquest in 1066.
• It may have been a defensive fortification or an administrative boundary.
• It might have marked a 7th-century boundary for Anglo-Saxon expansion.
• Alternatively, it could have been a late 8th or early 9th century boundary between Mercia and Northumbria.
• Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex fought for control of North West England in the early medieval period.
• The ditch has been used as a boundary since the Middle Ages.
• Legend says the inhabitants of Manchester built it in a single night in 869–870 to protect against Viking invaders.
• Each man had to dig his section and build a bank as tall as himself.
• 19th-century folklore says a battle between Saxons and Danes occurred at the ditch.
• Gorton and Reddish were said to get their names from this battle ("Gore Town" and "Red-Ditch").
• Historians dismiss this, saying the names mean "dirty farmstead" and "reedy ditch".
• Antiquarians and historians have been interested in the ditch since the 19th century, but much has been built over.
• The University of Manchester Archaeological Unit excavated sections of the ditch between 1990 and 1997.
• The goal was to determine its age and purpose.
• No construction date was established.
• Investigations found that the bank to the north of the ditch is of 20th-century origin.
• Its profile is U-shaped, not the V-shape typical of military ditches.
• This suggests the ditch 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, despite weathering.
• Sections are 4–5 yards (3.7–4.6 m) wide and up to 5 ft (1.5 m) deep.
• The best-preserved remains are in Denton Golf Course (330 yards/300 m) and Platt Fields Park.
• A 150-yard (140 m) section in Platt Fields was protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument in 1997.
• The rest of the ditch remains unprotected.