The Short Dykes of Mechain

Abstract

The article considers a group of short dykes which were examined as part of a study of this monument type, carried out by the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust on behalf of Cadw, between 2000 and 2006.

Various interesting points came out of the study, particularly regarding how short dykes in general fitted into their local landscapes. Their poor defensibility if viewed as monuments designed to impede or block access was also noted and this gave rise to an unease with this conventional interpretation of their function. Five of the dykes examined during the project, about a quarter, were dated by organic material which had been sealed beneath their bank at the time of construction and dates covering the period from the mid-fourth to late eighth centuries AD were obtained.

A group of six short dykes centred on the town of Llanfyllin in northern Powys were identified during the study, all of which lay close to the boundary of the medieval Welsh cantref of Mechain, as defined by Melville Richards. This implied that they might have been used to identify parts of this boundary and the acquisition of two radiocarbon dates collectively covering the period from the fifth to early eighth centuries AD from one of these dykes (Clawdd Mawr) was seen as being significant in perhaps showing that the cantref was based on an early medieval political entity. An analysis of the Mechain dykes will attempt to prove that they form a coherent group and have the potential to point further research of the site type in a more productive direction.