The ditch has long since been filled in and the bank ploughed away, but originally it was a considerable construction, considered to be strategically more sophisticated than Offa's Dyke.

The placement of the dyke in the terrain also shows that care was taken to provide clear views to the west and to use local features to the best defensive advantage.

[2] The dyke was previously thought to date to the early 8th century, constructed by Æthelbald, king of Mercia, who reigned from 716 to 757.

[3] This evidence would seem to place the building of the dyke in the era of the post-Roman kingdom whose capital was at Wroxeter (just south of modern-day Shrewsbury) about 10 miles (16 km) to the east.

[5] The approximate line of the earthwork is followed by the Wat's Dyke Way, a waymarked long-distance path running for 61 miles (98 km) from Llanymynech in Powys to Basingwerk Abbey on the River Dee near Holywell.