Nico Ditch: History and Purpose

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

Etymology

• The earliest reference is in a charter from 1190-1212, calling it "Mykelldiche" and magnum fossatum, which is Latin for "large ditch."
• The name Nico became established in the 19th and 20th centuries.
• Nico may come from the Anglo-Saxon Hnickar, a water spirit.
• It's likely a corruption of Mykelldiche, where micel means "big" in Anglo-Saxon.
• An alternative derivation of Nico comes 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 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 is located on the boundaries between Stockport and Manchester, and Tameside and Manchester.
• A section lies beneath Audenshaw Reservoirs, built in the late 19th century.
• The ditch may have once extended west to Urmston.

History

• The earthwork was constructed between the 5th century and the Norman conquest in 1066.
• Its original purpose is unclear, possibly defensive or administrative.
• It may have marked a 7th-century boundary for Anglo-Saxon expansion.
• It may have also marked a boundary in the late 8th or early 9th century between Mercia and Northumbria.
• Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Britons, and Danes fought for control of North West England in the early medieval period.
• The ditch has been used as a boundary since at least the Middle Ages.
• Legend says the inhabitants of Manchester completed Nico Ditch in a single night as protection 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 a battle between Saxons and Danes occurred at the ditch.
• The towns of Gorton and Reddish were named from this battle, but historians dismiss this.
• The names derive from "dirty farmstead" and "reedy ditch" respectively.
• Antiquarians and historians have been interested since the 19th century.
• Much of its course has been built over.
• The University of Manchester Archaeological Unit excavated sections between 1990 and 1997.
• Excavations aimed to determine its age and purpose.
• Investigations revealed that the bank to the north is of 20th-century origin.
• The ditch has a U-shape, suggesting it was a territorial boundary marker, not a military defense.
• The project concluded that the ditch was likely a boundary marker.

Preservation

• The ditch is still visible in short sections, which 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 through 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 is unprotected.