Lyonshall parish

HER nos. 351 (SO 3310 5536), 352 (SO 3261 5622), 376 (SO 3242 5811), 5577 (SO 3330 5521), 8223 (SO 3232 5790), 8224 (SO 3293 5572) and 8225 (SO 3314 5528)

There is a small stretch of earthwork to the north of the old railway line (SO 3200 5800). Just to the south of the A44 which runs through Lyonshall and to the south-west of Lyonshall Castle is a more defined section. The earthwork is unmistakable as a high, broad, rounded bank flanked on the west side by a flat ditch 12-13ft wide and full of wet silt. The overall width of the work is 50-60ft. The west ditch is very plain but the bank has been ploughed down.

At SO 3300 5500 the dyke is present as a fair-sized bank, and within a few yards it quickly develops into a sizeable earthwork and the western ditch becomes apparent, though it has evidently been ploughed in. The high and narrow ridge of the bank has been denuded by the tramping of cattle, the crest having been lowered by over 1ft in places since the century-old oaks which crown it were young trees. Here a streamlet that rises at Lynhales and originally flowed down a natural hollow was deflected by the dyke builders into their ditch. 
 
At SO 3400 5400 there is a banked feature with visible ditches on both sides running from Holme Farm to Wooton Ash. The ditch varies in width from 2-3m and  is very clear at the Wooton Ash end, with the bank being about 2m high; at the Holme Farm end it is only 0.5m high. This bank may be part of Offa's Dyke, and it can also be seen on RAF aerial photographs.

[Original author: Miranda Greene, 2005]