A Drone Photographic and Photogrammetric Portrait of Offa’s Dyke

Julian Ravest, Howard Williams

Abstract


This preliminary article applies drone photograph and photogrammetry visualisations to four significant sections of Offa’s Dyke to provide fresh insights into specific features of the monument. Also demonstrated is the role of drones as a means to record the present state of features for future reference, and as a tool for the discovery of subtle features not previously recorded. The four case studies chosen for this article are part of a drone survey that covers an effectively continuous 16km ribbon of the Dyke plus the sections of Hergest Corner and Rushock Hill. Together with the complete set of Offa’s Dyke drone photography undertaken, they establish a platform for future work.

Keywords


Aerial photography; drone; photogrammetry; Offa’s Dyke: Hergan Corner; Llanfair Hill; Pen Offa; Rushock Hill

Full Text:

PDF

References


Austin, D. and Ravest, J. 2022. Recent work on the precinct of Cwmhir Abbey, Radnorshire, Archaeologia Cambrensis 171: 125–151.

Bezant, A. Lovell, J. and Ravest, J. 2021. Survey of an Upland landscape on the Gollon grange of Abbey Cwmhir. Radnorshire. Archaeology in Wales 61: 95–100.

Burnham, B.C. and Davies, J.L. (eds) 2010. Roman Frontiers in Wales and the Marches. Aberystwyth: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales.

Britnell, W.J. and Jones, N.W. 2019. A landscape revisited: recent work on Roman sites in the Walton Basin, Radnorshire. Archaeologia Cambrensis 169: 59–98.

Davies, J.L. 2010. Erglodd (NGR: SN 653 903; NPRN 303601), in B.C. Burnham and J.L. Davies (eds) Roman Frontiers in Wales and the Marches. Aberystwyth: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales: 292–295.

Davis, O. 2011. A LiDAR survey of Skokholm Island, Gateholm Islet and the Marloes Peninsular, Pembrokeshire. Archaeologia Cambrensis 160: 115–132.

Delaney, L. 2021. Using Lidar survey to locate and evaluate Offa’s Dyke. Offa’s Dyke Journal 3: 83–107.

Driver, T., Burnham, B.C. and Davies, J.L. 2020. Roman Wales: aerial discoveries and new observations from the drought of 2018. Britannia 51: 117–145.

Frere, S.S. 2010. Penmincae (NGR: SO 006 539; NPRN 276085), B.C. Burnham and J.L. Davies (eds) Roman Frontiers in Wales and the Marches. Aberystwyth: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales: 296.

Fox, C. 1955. Offa’s Dyke. A Field Survey of the Western Frontier-Works of Mercia in the Seventh and Eighth Centuries A.D. London: The British Academy/Oxford University Press.

Frere, S.S. and St Joseph, J.K.S. 1983. Roman Britain from the Air. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hankinson, R. 2024. The short dykes of Mechain. Offa’s Dyke 6: 54–72.

Hill, D. and Worthington, M. 2003. Offa’s Dyke: History and Guide. Stroud: Tempus.

Humphreys, D.A. 2021. Offa’s Dyke in the landscape: comparative size and topographical disposition as indicators of function. Offa’s Dyke Journal 3: 108–128.

Jones, B. and Mattingly, D. 1990. An Atlas of Roman Britain. London: Guild.

Jones, I., Williams, D. and Williams, S. 2018. Early medieval enclosure at Glanfred, near Llandre, Ceredigion. Archaeologia Cambrensis 169: 221–243.

Jones, N.W. 2010. Forden Gaer (NGR: 20208 989, NPRN 94012), in B.C. Burnham and J.L. Davies (eds) Roman Frontiers in Wales and the Marches. Aberystwyth: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales: 243–245.

Murphy, K. 2010. Waun-duu (Y Pigwn III) (NGR: SN 820 310; NPRN 304655), in B.C. Burnham and J.L. Davies (eds) Roman Frontiers in Wales and the Marches. Aberystwyth: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales: 298–299.

Musson, C. 1994. Wales from the Air: Patterns of Past and Present. Aberystwyth: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales.

Musson, C. 2013. Radnorshire from Above: Images of Landscape and Archaeology. Welshpool: The Radnorshire Society and Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust.

Noble, F. 1981. The ODA Book of Offa’s Dyke Path. Knighton: Offa’s Dyke Association.

Noble, F. 1983. Offa’s Dyke Reviewed. British Archaeological Reports British Series, 114.

Putnam, W.G. 2010. Pen y Crocbren (NGR: SN 856 935; NPRN 99193), in B.C. Burnham and J.L. Davies (eds) Roman Frontiers in Wales and the Marches. Aberystwyth: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales: 297.

Ravest, J. 2019. New Perspectives on Abbey Cwm Hir. Transaction of the Radnorshire Society 89: 105–123.

Ravest, J. 2021a. Cefnllys Castle, Radnorshire, Wales - a personal view from above, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvVE9NnaIpw

Ravest, J. 2021b. Abbeycwmhir – a personal view, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IN-YOT82uc

Ravest, J. 2021c. Castle Bank Hillfort, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HcvQdVLP3Y

Ravest, J. 2022a. Penybont Common (Rhos Swydd). Transaction of the Radnorshire Society 92: 56–77.

Ravest, J. 2022b. Survey of the Cistercian Grange Centre, Mynachty Moat. Archaeology in Wales 62: 73–78.

Ravest, J. 2023. Medieval Laithddu. Transaction of the Radnorshire Society 93: 117–120.

Ravest, J. 2024. Drone photography of the Dyke. Archaeodeath (YouTube), 6 November 2024, viewed 28 August 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9kn8JQUyhM

Ray, K. 2021. Offa’s Dyke and Cyril Fox, in H. James and T. Driver (eds) Illustrating the Past in Wales: A Celebration of 175 Years of Archaeologia Cambrensis 1846–2021. Carmarthen: Cambrian Archaeological Association: 44–45.

Ray, K. 2022. The organisation of the Mid–Late Anglo-Saxon borderland with Wales. Offa’s Dyke Journal 4: 132–153.

Ray, K. and Bapty, I. 2016. Offa’s Dyke: Landscape and Hegemony in Eighth-Century Britain. Oxford: Windgather Press.

Ray, K., Bailey, R., Copeland, T., Davies, T., Delaney, L., Finch, D., Heaton, N., Hoyle, J. and Maddison, S. 2021. Offa’s Dyke: a continuing journey of discovery. Offa’s Dyke Journal 3: 33–82.

Symonds, M. 2018. Protecting the Roman Empire: Fortlets, Frontiers, and the Quest for Post-Conquest Security. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Vyner, B. 2021. Ffos y Mynach, St David’s: an ancient boundary and its purpose. Archaeologia Cambrensis 170: 77–110.

White, A. 2022. ‘Turren etcatrum’: some fresh thoughts on the Roman fortlets of the Yorkshire Coast. Antiquaries Journal 102: 45–68.

White, R. 2010. Brompton/Pentrehyling (NGR: SO 247 931), in B.C. Burnham and J.L. Davies (eds) Roman Frontiers in Wales and the Marches. Aberystwyth: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales: 205.

Williams, A. 2019. Offa’s Dyke: ‘the stuff that dreams are made of’. Offa’s Dyke Journal 1: 32–57.

Williams, H. 2021a. Collaboratory through crises: researching linear monuments in 2021. Offa’s Dyke Journal 3: 1–16.

Williams, H. 2021b. Rethinking Wat’s Dyke: a monument’s flow in a hydraulic frontier zone. Offa’s Dyke Journal 3: 151–182.

Williams, H. 2023. Rethinking Offa’s Dyke as a hydraulic frontier work. Offa’s Dyke Journal 5: 140–169.

Williams, H. 2025. Great works by great men? Rethinking linear earthworks. Offa’s Dyke Journal 6: 1–9.

Williams, H. and Delaney, L. 2019. The Offa’s Dyke Collaboratory and the Offa’s Dyke Journal. Offa’s Dyke Journal 1: 1–31.

Worthington Hill, M. 2019. Wat’s Dyke: an archaeological and historical enigma. Offa’s Dyke Journal 1: 57–79.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23914/odj.v7i0.14333

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

ISSN: 2695-625X

Follow us on:

 

 

  

Edited in Madrid by JAS Arqueología