Editing Audenshaw (section)

==History==
[[File:Audenshaw Reservoir, 2005.jpg|thumb|Audenshaw Reservoir]]
The name Audenshaw is a corruption of its earlier name ''Aldwinshagh'' which derives from Aldwin, a [[Saxons|Saxon]] personal name, combined with the [[Old English]] suffix ''shagh'' meaning "Woodland".<ref name="Lewis 1848">{{harvnb|Lewis|1848|pp=112–116}}.</ref>

[[Nico Ditch]], a medieval linear [[Earthworks (engineering)|earthwork]], runs through the area. Stretching {{convert|6|mi}} from Ashton Moss in the east to just east of [[Stretford]] in the west, the origin of the ditch is unclear.<ref>{{harvnb|Nevell|1998|p=40}}.</ref> According to legend, it was completed in a single night by the inhabitants of Manchester, as a protection against Viking invaders in 869–870,<ref>{{harvnb|Hylton|2003|p=8}}.</ref> 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".<ref>{{harvnb|Booker|1857|p=197}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Harland|Wilkinson|1993|pp=26–29}}.</ref> Despite the legend, the U-shape of the ditch&nbsp;– as opposed to the usual V-shape of military earthworks&nbsp;– and the absence of an associated bank indicates that Nico Ditch was probably a boundary marker.<ref>{{harvnb|Nevell|1998|pp=40–41}}.</ref> 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".<ref>{{harvnb|Nevell|1992|p=78}}.</ref>

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.<ref>{{harvnb|Nevell|1992|p=81}}.</ref>