Audenshaw

History

The name Audenshaw is a corruption of its earlier name Aldwinshagh which derives from Aldwin, a Saxon personal name, combined with the Old English suffix shagh meaning "Woodland". Nico Ditch, a medieval linear earthwork, runs through the area. Stretching from Ashton Moss in the east to just east of Stretford in the west, the origin of the ditch is unclear. According to legend, it was completed in a single night by the inhabitants of Manchester, as a protection against Viking invaders in 869–870, and that it was the site of a bloody battle between Saxons and Danes and that Gorton and Reddish got their name from the battle, "Gore Town" and "Red-Ditch". Despite the legend, the U-shape of the ditch – as opposed to the usual V-shape of military earthworks – and the absence of an associated bank indicates that Nico Ditch was probably a boundary marker. Although it is thought to be earlier, the earliest documented reference to Nico Ditch is in a charter detailing the granting of land in Audenshaw to the monks of the Kersal Cell. In the document, dating from 1190 to 1212, the ditch is referred to as "Mykelldiche", and a magnum fossatum, Latin for "large ditch". In 1877, part of the original village of Audenshaw was demolished to make way for the three Audenshaw Reservoirs. Also destroyed to allow the construction of the reservoirs was a section of Nico Ditch.