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Brief Notes on Offals Dyhe. By John Bellows. 



A Welsh -writer states that the first invasion of Wales by 

 the Saxons took place in 728, under Ethelbeet, king of Mercia, 

 who fought a bloody battle at Carno near Crickhowell, in which 

 he was victorious over Teithwaloh, prince of Brecknock, whose 

 territory extended over a large portion of central Wales, and 

 included the district between the Severn and the Wye. 



In the feign of Tegtd, the son of the prince just named, the 

 Welsh were driven out of this district by Offa, who afterwards 

 made the famous dyke as a mark for his new boundary. 



The dyke begins at the mouth of the Dee, on its left bank, run- 

 ning south through parts of Denbighshire and Flintshire, cutting 

 oflP a very small portion of the west of Shropshire. Passing 

 into Eadnorshire it is seen near Knighton, the Welsh name of 

 which Tref y Clawdd means the " town on the cutting " or 

 "ditch:" for both Clawdd and dyke come from verbs signifying 

 to cut. We have it in the word dock to cut ofi"; dock, the noun, 

 a cutting for ships to ride in ; docket, ticket ; and possibly in dog 

 as the designation of the hiter, i.e., the cutter. We also find it 

 in the name Pendock, " Head of the dyke." 



The Dyke goes next through the parishes of Norton, Whitton, 

 and Discoed, near "Beggar's Bush; " then enters Herefordshire 

 at the vUlage of Knill, not far from Kington. It nearly surrounds 

 a hill here, called Bervas' Bank, and is both deep and wide; the 

 breadth being some 50 feet. 



It is perhaps needless to remark that a rampart one hundred 

 miles in length was not intended as a fortification over its every 

 portion ; but at intervals there are points in it of such strength 

 as to leave no doubt that they were meant for military defence. 



