Nico Ditch: History and Purpose

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

Etymology

• The earliest reference to the ditch is in a charter from 1190 to 1212, granting Audenshaw land to the monks of Kersal Cell.
• In this charter, it is called "Mykelldiche" and magnum fossatum, 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, but is more likely from Mykelldiche, where micel means "big".
• Another possible derivation of Nico is from nǽcan, an Anglo-Saxon verb meaning "kill".

Course

• Nico 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.
• The ditch crosses four metropolitan boroughs in Greater Manchester.
• It aligns with boundaries between Stockport and Manchester, and Tameside and Manchester.
• The ditch is partly beneath the Audenshaw Reservoirs, built in the late 19th century.
• It may have once stretched west beyond Stretford to Urmston (SJ78299504).

History

• The earthwork was built between the 5th century and the Norman conquest in 1066.
• Its function is not known, it may have been a defense or a boundary.
• Nico Ditch may have been a 7th-century boundary for Anglo-Saxon expansion.
• It could also have been a late 8th or early 9th century boundary between Mercia and Northumbria.
• In the early medieval period, Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex fought for control of North West England against Britons and Danes.
• The ditch has been used as a boundary since at least the Middle Ages.
• According to legend, the inhabitants of Manchester built it in a single night to defend against Viking invaders in 869–870.
• Manchester may have been sacked by the Danes in 870.
• Each man had to dig a section and build a bank equal to their own height.
• 19th-century folklore claimed a battle between Saxons and Danes at the ditch led to the names of Gorton ("Gore Town") and Reddish ("Red-Ditch").
• Historians have dismissed this as "popular fancy."
• The names Gorton and Reddish actually mean "dirty farmstead" and "reedy ditch" respectively.
• Antiquarians and historians have studied the ditch since the 19th century.
• The University of Manchester Archaeological Unit excavated sections in Denton, Reddish, Levenshulme, and Platt Fields from 1990 to 1997.
• The excavations aimed to determine its age and purpose.
• The investigations revealed that the bank to the north is of 20th-century origin.
• The ditch has a U-shape, unlike the V-shape of military ditches.
• The project concluded that the ditch was likely a territorial boundary marker.

Preservation

• Despite weathering, short sections of the ditch remain visible, 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 in Denton Golf Course and a section in Platt Fields Park are the best-preserved remains.
• In 1997, a 150-yard (140 m) segment in Platt Fields was protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
• The rest of the ditch is unprotected.