DescriptionThe Nico Ditch was not a drainage ditch and neither was it built in a day. It was not built as a boundary between townships though as townships developed the ditch may have been used as a boundary. However it was originally 15 ft wide with a 12 ft bank on the Manchester side, possibly surmounted by a palisade. It would appear that its main purpose was to mark out the territory of a sixth century Saxon King. (Roy Westall)
Nico Ditch (occasionally Mickle Ditch or Nikker) is a six mile (9.7 km) long linear earthwork running between Ashton-under-Lyne and Stretford in Greater Manchester, England. It may have been dug as a defensive fortification, or possibly a boundary marker. It was constructed some time between the 5th and 11th centuries AD. (Wikipedia accessed 20 May 2013)
SJ 9030 9593 - SJ 8493 9443 A linear earthwork known as the Nico Ditch which lies to the south and east of the present city of Manchester. It has been traced as upstanding earthwork remains and field boundaries for 5km between Hough Moss in the west and Ashton Moss on the east side of the city. It cuts through the low-lying land between these mosslands and defends the land to the north including the site of the Roman fort and Anglo-Saxon burh of Manchester. Its name has had various forms in the past including 'mykelldiche' and 'magnum fossatum' in AD 1190-1212. These names point to an Anglo-Saxon origin and mean the 'great ditch'. The ditch has been excavated in various places in the past 20 years and these investigations have established the consitent form of a bank and ditch. Its date and function have been variously described as a boundary for Roman centuriation, as an early medieval administrative boundary to separate early estates and later parishes and as a defence of the burgh of Manchester reported in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under the date AD 919. The latter suggested function would have cut off the access to the town by three Roman roads from the south side. Since the ditch effectively forms a barrier to traffic between the rivers Irwell and Medlock it may have formed a boundary of the kingdom of Rheged in the sixth century or it may have been the limit of the kingdom of Mercia in the eighth century. (PastScape)
A small number of substantial and defensible boundary features have been identified as frontier works marking territories in the early medieval period. Up to 50 examples are known with a fairly wide distribution across England, including examples in southern England, East Anglia, Yorkshire, Derbyshire and along the Welsh border. Identified remains extend over distances from as little as 300m up to as much as 240km in the case of Offa's Dyke. They survive in the form of earthworks and as buried features visible as cropmarks or soilmarks on aerial photographs. They appear often to have been constructed across the natural grain of the landscape and, although many examples consisted of a single bank and flanking ditch, to vary considerably in their form and dimensions, even along different stretches of the same boundary, depending upon local topography. Evidence from contemporary documentary sources, excavation and survey suggests that they were constructed in the early medieval period between the fifth and eighth centuries AD. Some were relatively ephemeral, perhaps in use for only a few years during periods of local strife; others, such as Offa's Dyke, constructed between Wales and Mercia, have formed long-lived territorial and/or military boundaries in use for several centuries. As a rare monument type of considerable importance to the study of early medieval territorial patterns, all surviving examples are identified as nationally important. The Nico Ditch is a linear boundary of the Anglo-Saxon period. The section of the linear earthwork in Platt Fields survives well and is one of very few sections of the Nico Ditch which remains identifiable. It has been destroyed by urban developments in all but a few locations elsewhere in Manchester. The original profile of the ditch is still evident and the bank is still proud of the surrounding ground surface. The original ground surface will survive beneath the bank.
The monument includes a 135m long section of a linear earthwork known as the Nico Ditch. The earthwork is a bank and ditch which lies to the south of the present city of Manchester. It has been traced as upstanding earthwork remains and field boundaries for 5km between the Hough Moss in the west and the Ashton Moss on the east side of the city. Its name has been recorded in various forms in the past including 'mykelldiche' and 'magnum fossatum' in AD 1190-1212. These names point to an Anglo-Saxon origin and mean the 'great ditch'. The section surviving in Platt Fields runs from a point on the north of the Shakespeare Garden where an iron rail fence cuts across the ditch and separates part of the grounds of the school, and eastwards to the Oxford Road wall. At a point 30m from the road it is intersected by another rail fence defining the burial ground of the Unitarian Chapel. The part of the ditch in the burial ground is also included in the scheduling. On the south side of the ditch an iron rail fence has been built along the lip of the ditch to prevent access to the grounds of the school and mark the limits of the park. The ditch is 'U' shaped in section and about 2m deep at this point and about 4m wide. The bank is on the north side and stands 0.5m high and 5m wide at the base. The ditch still carries water through to the lake on the west side of the park. To the west of the area of the scheduling the ditch has been re-cut to allow this water to flow more freely and this has destroyed the profile of the original work. To the east the ditch has been destroyed by development. The ditch has been investigated by excavation in various places in the past 20 years and this has confirmed the consistent form of the monument throughout its length. Its date and function have been previously described as a boundary for Roman centuriation (a division of allocated land for cultivation), as an early medieval administrative boundary to separate early estates and later parishes and a defence of the burgh of Manchester reported in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under the date AD 919. The latter suggested function would have cut off the access to the town by three Roman roads from the south side. Since the ditch effectively forms a barrier to traffic between the Irwell and the Medlock it may have formed part of the boundary of the kingdom of Rheged in the sixth century or it may have been the limit of the kingdom of Mercia in the eigth century. The facts are that it forms a demarcation between an area of low-lying ground between two mosslands to the east and west of the site of the Anglo-Saxon town of Manchester, that it forms a boundary between several medieval townships along its length and that its name is firmly Anglo-Saxon in origin. This means that it was constructed during the administration of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms between AD 600 and the tenth century. (Scheduling Report)
