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 built sometime between the 5th and 11th century.
• Its purpose was either defensive or to mark a boundary.
• Some parts of the ditch are still visible, measuring 4–5 yards (3.7–4.6 m) wide and up to 5 feet (1.5 m) deep.
• A section of the earthwork is a protected Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Etymology

• The earliest reference to the ditch is in a charter from 1190 to 1212, calling it "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.
• The modern name could also be a corruption of Mykelldiche, as micel means "big" in Anglo-Saxon.
• Another possible origin is nǽcan, an Anglo-Saxon verb meaning "kill".

Course

• The ditch runs from Ashton Moss in Ashton-under-Lyne to Hough Moss, east of Stretford.
• It passes through Denton, Reddish, Gorton, Levenshulme, Burnage, Rusholme, Platt Fields Park, Withington, and Chorlton-cum-Hardy.
• The ditch crosses through four metropolitan boroughs of present-day Greater Manchester.
• It coincides with the boundaries between Stockport and Manchester, and Tameside and Manchester.
• The ditch extends as far as the Denton golf course.
• Part of the ditch is under the Audenshaw Reservoirs, built in the late 19th century.
• It may have originally extended west beyond Stretford, to Urmston.

History

• The ditch was constructed between the end of Roman rule in Britain (early 5th century) and the Norman conquest (1066).
• Historians are unsure of its original purpose.
• It may have marked a 7th-century boundary for Anglo-Saxon expansion.
• It may have been a boundary between the kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria in the 8th or 9th century.
• 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 at least the Middle Ages.
• Legend states the inhabitants of Manchester completed the ditch in a single night to protect against Viking invaders in 869–870.
• Each man had to dig his section and build a bank as tall as himself.
• Supposedly, a battle between Saxons and Danes occurred at the ditch.
• It was said that Gorton and Reddish got their names from this battle ("Gore Town" and "Red-Ditch"), but historians dismiss this idea.
• The names actually derive from "dirty farmstead" and "reedy ditch" respectively.
• Antiquarians and historians have studied the ditch since the 19th century.
• Much of the ditch has been built over.
• Excavations from 1990 to 1997 in Denton, Reddish, Levenshulme, and Platt Fields aimed to determine its age and purpose.
• The excavations revealed a 20th-century origin for the bank to the north of the ditch..
• The ditch's U-shape suggests that its purpose was to mark a territorial boundary.
• The project concluded that the ditch was likely a boundary marker.

Preservation

• The ditch is still visible in short sections, despite weathering.
• These sections are up to 4–5 yards (3.7–4.6 m) wide and up to 5 feet (1.5 m) deep.
• The best-preserved remains are in Denton Golf Course (330-yard/300 m stretch) and Platt Fields Park.
• 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.