Making Earthworks Visible: The Example of the Oswestry Heritage Comics Project

Swogger, John

doi:10.23914/odj.v1i0.254

Cited by 5 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…In an earlier publication, we set out the rationale for a heritage comic as a means of promoting each of these discrete endeavours, both to explore Wat's Dyke in itself but also to use the monument as an anchor to convey aspects of the complex evolution of the Anglo-Welsh borderlands and its communities (Swogger and Williams 2020; see also Swogger 2019aSwogger -c, 2020. Having previously contextualised our approach in relation to other heritage comics, we now present the decision-making process of dialogue between an archaeologist and an archaeological illustrator to envision Wat's Dyke and its landscape biography in the environs of Wrexham.…”

Section: A Heritage Comic For Wrexham: From Rationale To Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…But despite the fact that the surviving fragments of the Dyke can be difficult to see, challenges both to access and interpretation, an engaging story about the monument, its likely (but not proven) seventh to ninth-century functions and meanings, and its later history, can be told to those who visit it. As Swogger (2019a-c) surveys, comics have become a critical media utilised to explore many themes and debates in public archaeology and heritage (Swogger 2019c), but they have a particular power to tell the stories of heritage in borderland contexts (Swogger 2019a).…”

Section: A Heritage Comic For Wrexham: From Rationale To Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Drawing the Line: What’s Wat’s Dyke? Practice and Process

Swogger¹,

Williams²

2021

OD Journal

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Often neglected and misunderstood, there are considerable challenges to digital and real-world public engagement with Britain’s third-longest linear monument, Wat’s Dyke (Williams 2020a). To foster public education and understanding regarding of Wat’s Dyke’s relationship to the broader story of Anglo-Welsh borderlands, but also to encourage the monument’s management and conservation, we proposed the creation of a comic heritage trail (Swogger and Williams 2020). Funded by the University of Chester and the Offa’s Dyke Association, we selected one prominent stretch where Wat’s Dyke is mainly damaged and fragmentary and yet also there remain well-preserved and monumental sections. Around Wrexham, Wat’s Dyke navigates varied topographies including following and crossing river valleys, and it is accessible to the public in the vicinity of North Wales’s largest town. In this article we outline the dialogue and decision-making process behind the map and 10-panel comic: What’s Wat’s Dyke? Wrexham Comic Heritage Trail (Swogger and Williams 2021; Williams and Swogger 2021a–b). In particular, we consider the stages taken to adapt from the initial plan of producing a bilingual map guide in response to the circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. This digital resource, published online in Welsh and English, guides visitors and locals alike along a central stretch of Wat’s Dyke around Wrexham town from Bryn Alyn hillfort to the north to Middle Sontley to the south. The comic heritage trail thus responds to the highly fragmented nature of the monument and utilises the linearity of Wat’s Dyke as a gateway to explore the complex Anglo-Welsh borderlands from prehistory to the present day. Building on earlier discussions (Swogger 2019), What’s Wat’s Dyke? illustrates the potential of future projects which use comics to explore linear monuments and linear heritage features (from ancient trackways and roads to railways and canals) constructed across the world from prehistory to recent times.

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Section: A Heritage Comic For Wrexham: From Rationale To Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Heritage Comic For Wrexham: From Rationale To Processmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drawing the Line: What’s Wat’s Dyke? Practice and Process

Swogger¹,

Williams²

2021

OD Journal

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“…For the Offa's Dyke Journal, our remit set for volume 1 was to republish classic reports that shed light on linear monuments and their relationships with frontiers and borderlands that, while published elsewhere, have remained difficult to access and thus were sometimes overlooked or ignored (A. Williams 2019; Worthington Hill 2019). Moreover, volume 1 set the precedent for the dissemination of the latest fieldwork, analyses and syntheses from across differing disciplines exploring linear earthwork's functions and significance in the human past (Belford 2019; Seaman 2019; Tummuscheit and Witte 2019), and in today's world (Swogger 2019) extending far beyond Offa's Dyke. Indeed, as our Introductory essay made crystal clear and evidenced by only two of the six articles tackling Offa's Dyke directly (Williams and Delaney 2019), the title Offa's Dyke Journal was explicitly used to create a focus and a tone for the journal's content, not to set this one linear monument as the journal's primary subject.…”

Section: Reviewing Volumementioning

confidence: 99%

Collaboratory, Coronavirus and the Colonial Countryside

Williams

2020

OD Journal

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Introducing the second volume of the Offa’s Dyke Journal (ODJ), this five-part article sets the scene by reviewing: (i) key recent research augmenting last year’s Introduction (Williams and Delaney 2019); (ii) the key activities of the Offa’s Dyke Collaboratory in 2020; (iii) the political mobilisation of Offa’s Dyke in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns; (iv) the ramifications of accelerated efforts to decolonise the British countryside on both archaeological research and heritage interpretation on linear monuments; and (v) a review of the contents of volume 2. Together, this introduction presents the context and significance of ODJ volume 2 for both research on the Welsh Marches and broader investigations of frontiers and borderlands.

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“…Let me explain further why this discussion in imperitive. Despite this relative neglect in terms of both archaeological research and heritage conservation, management and interpretation, Wat's Dyke offers manifold opportunities for engagement with local communities about their early medieval past and its complex relationship with the histories of the Anglo-Welsh borderlands, the origins of England and Wales, and the broader shifting significance of frontiers and borderlands in the 21st-century world (see also Belford 2019;Swogger 2019;Williams and Delaney 2019). Wat's Dyke runs for much of its course through arable, pasture and woodland, preserved in many places within historic field boundaries, with some striking rural stretches accessible by public footpaths, including the long distance trail, the Wat's Dyke Way (Figures 3).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This can be a key means of fostering local senses of place and thus ensuring the monument's survival for future generations (for Offa's Dyke, see Ray and Bapty 2016: 373-376). As such, this requirement addresses broader themes in the archaeology and heritage of the Anglo-Welsh borderlands specifically and also the archaeology of frontiers, borderlands and diaspora (see also Belford 2019;Swogger 2019). Furthermore, this is a time of growing English and Welsh regionalisms and nationalisms, as well as broader international debates on borders, national identity and immigration intersecting with perceptions and appropriations of the Early Middle Ages (Williams 2020a; see also Doyle White 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interpreting Wat’s Dyke in the 21st Century

Williams¹

2020

Public Archaeologies of Frontiers and Borderlands

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Linear monuments offer special challenges in the context of the public archaeology of frontiers and borderlands. This chapter tackles the interpretive neglect of Britain's second-longest early medieval earthwork, Wat's Dyke, showing how its sparse and sporadic archaeological attention is reflected in poor and out-dated public archaeology and heritage interpretation. I evaluate the current media and mechanisms by which various publics -including global digital audiences, visitors to the Anglo-Welsh borderlands through which the monument runs, and local communities living in the Dyke's environs in Flintshire, Wrexham and Shropshire -can access, experience and learn about Wat's Dyke. Having identified how Wat's Dyke is fragmented and obscure in the landscape despite its monumental presence, and how its digital resources are inadequate, I then propose new avenues for developing innovative interpretations of Wat's Dyke for both existing and new audiences which aim to provide upto-date and engaging resources and connect the monument to the rich cultural landscapes, past and present, through which it runs. I argue these recommendations provide the basis for both enhancing awareness and knowledge. I also argue they provide a more robust resources for current and future generations of research and public engagement. I also suggest they serve to combat the risk of pseudo-archaeological narratives and extremist political appropriations of Wat's Dyke.

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Making Earthworks Visible: The Example of the Oswestry Heritage Comics Project

Cited by 5 publications

References 2 publications

Drawing the Line: What’s Wat’s Dyke? Practice and Process

Drawing the Line: What’s Wat’s Dyke? Practice and Process

Collaboratory, Coronavirus and the Colonial Countryside

Interpreting Wat’s Dyke in the 21st Century

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