GodHidden
Woden's Dyke
Built by a god, or so they guessed.
See it clearly
- What's there
- Massive bank and ditch
- Legend from
- Anglo-Saxon name
- Tone
- Wondrous
Who dug this? The Saxons shrugged, and said: Woden.
Wansdyke is a long early medieval earthwork, a bank and ditch with the ditch facing north, running across the Marlborough Downs. Its name comes from Woden's Dyke, after the Anglo-Saxon god. That name may mean the incoming Saxons did not know who built it, and so credited it to a god. Some have argued it was raised against Saxon invaders around the 490s. East Wansdyke, on the downs above the Vale of Pewsey near Tan Hill, survives best. It may once have run west as far as Maes Knoll.
One sourceOnly one written account of this legend has been found so far.