Lower Harpton parish

HER nos. 8218 (SO 2815 6000) and 348 (SO 2805 6048)

A section of Offa's Dyke immediately to the south of the Welsh Border, running in a north-south direction before swinging around to the west. The section appears as earthworks except for section in the centre. Where it crosses the county boundary it is seen as a broad 17ft scarp with a ditch on the western side which is now largely silted up. From here the dyke heads up the flank of Herrock Hill. The dyke is present as a rounded bank ditched on both sides.

On Herrock Hill the dyke heads in a north-east - south-west direction around the scarp of the hill. On the open hillside the dyke, though direct, is irregular. It is a broad (26ft) rounded bank with a well-marked western ditch, and some spoil has also been taken form the east side. The dyke becomes smaller as it rises, with less definite ditching, and when it turns south-west along the face of the hill it presents those changes in profile. In some places it is a mere berm or shelf, while in others there is an upper and lower ditch. Where it comes around the very steep western face of the hill it is hardly visible where the soil has slipped from the rock.

[Original author: Miranda Greene, 2005]