Offa
a King of Mercia, who attained the throne after Ethelbald, on defeating the usurper Beornred, A. D. 757. He brought Kent under his sway, and re- OFFA'S DYKE duced the power of Wessex by a defeat inflicted in 777. He also defeated the Welsh, took from them part of their border lands, and to keep them within their new limits erected here the ramparts known as Watt's Dyke and Offa's Dyke.
Latterly he murdered Ethelbert, King of East Anglia, and seized his kingdom.
He founded the Abbey of St. Albans, and was a liberal patron to the Church. He died in 796.