Nico Ditch: History and Purpose

• Nico Ditch is a 6 mi (9.7 km) long earthwork in Greater Manchester, England.
• It stretches between Ashton-under-Lyne and Stretford.
• The ditch was constructed between the 5th and 11th centuries.
• It may have been a defensive fortification or a boundary marker.
• Short sections remain visible, for example, a 330-yard (300 m) stretch is in Denton Golf Course.
• Surviving parts measure 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 is in a charter from 1190 to 1212, granting land in Audenshaw to Kersal Cell monks.
• In this document, it is referred to as "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.
• More likely, Nico is a corruption of "Mykelldiche," where the Anglo-Saxon micel means "big" or "great."
• An alternative derivation of Nico is from nǽcan, an Anglo-Saxon verb meaning "kill".

Course

• The ditch runs from Ashton Moss (SJ909980) in Ashton-under-Lyne 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 the boundaries between Stockport and Manchester, and Tameside and Manchester.
• It extends as far as Denton golf course.
• Part of the ditch is under the Audenshaw Reservoirs, built in the late 19th century.
• It may have extended west beyond Stretford to Urmston (SJ78299504).

History

• Constructed between the end of Roman rule in the early 5th century and the Norman conquest in 1066.
• The original purpose is unknown, but it may have been a defensive fortification or administrative boundary.
• It may 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.
• During the early medieval period, Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex fought for control of North West England, alongside the Britons and Danes.
• The ditch has been used as a boundary since at least the Middle Ages.
• Legend says the inhabitants of Manchester completed it in a single night as protection against Viking invaders in 869–870.
• Supposedly, each man had to dig his section and build a bank equal to his own height.
• 19th-century folklore claimed a battle between Saxons and Danes occurred at the ditch.
• This battle supposedly gave Gorton and Reddish their names ("Gore Town" and "Red-Ditch"), but historians dismiss this.
• "Gorton" derives from "dirty farmstead," and "Reddish" from "reedy ditch."
• Antiquarians and historians have studied the ditch since the 19th century.
• Much of its course has been built over.
• Between 1990 and 1997, the University of Manchester Archaeological Unit excavated sections in Denton, Reddish, Levenshulme, and Platt Fields.
• These excavations aimed to determine its age and purpose.
• No construction date was established.
• Investigations revealed the bank north of the ditch is of 20th-century origin.
• The ditch's U-shape profile (rather than the V-shape typical of military defenses) suggests a territorial boundary marker.
• The project concluded the ditch was probably a boundary marker.

Preservation

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