Living Hedgerows

from

The Shell Book of Country Crafts

Text and Drawings by James Arnold*

The information and illustrations below are quoted from the above mentioned book. For a complete reference, please go to the end of the article.

Winters Work

"Some form of division between fields has been the practice in agriculture, even in the early times of the Saxon open-fields and possibly long before then. It was, however, the advent of the enclosures... that hedges, wallings, and earth baulks in the form that we now know them were constructed. Eventually, the farmers of Leicestershire...developed the practice of trimming, laying, and training of thorn hedges. This practice prevented a hedge from exhausting itself by excessive and extended growth, and the Leicester type of hedge was eventually cultivated through the greater part of England and parts of Wales, wherever the soil was rich and deep enough to support the hawthorn, which formed the body of such hedging...

"With all the subsequent changes in farming, these related crafts have been generally unaffected... Generally speaking, ...hedges continue to be laid every winter... The laying of hedges has always been a winter's task in the farm calendar, partly because there is more time and partly because the task is easier when there is no foliage. In the fields, then, shortly in the New Year, one is likely to come across a solitary man working along a hedge, though if there is any amount of heavy work involved there may be a second man. If a hedge has been previously laid, not more than a few years back, then the job will involve no more than 'maintenance', which will consist of trimming the mass of the hedge with a few upward strokes of the slasher, and taking out unwanted and recent growths. But a hedge run wild after many years will require some drastic attention...

"A row of hawthorn or hazel shrubs will be trimmed of all branching stuff, to leave the main stems, which are cut half through near the base and then carefully bent over to a low angle. The method of making this cut is really the foundation of good hedging, and properly done ensures that the sap will rise unchecked through the uncut fibres. This work is begun at the left-hand end, with each stem being bent over to the left, so clearing the way for the next cut. Working gradually along, the result is a row of turned-over stems each often 10 ft or more in length and all overlapping.

"At close intervals, of 2 ft or a little more, stakes of cleft ash or chestnut, or anything available, is driven into the ground, to form a rough 'weave' or pleach, depending on the flexibility of the stems. Everything is then knocked in and the whole mass is 'tightened' up with the mallet. The tops of the exposed stakes are usually bound with some slender stuff. Often this will be of 'runners' of bramble or briar sometimes taken out of the same hedge. Bramble is especially suitable, because ...its runners are often of considerable length. A number of these runners are plaited to form an unbroken and very flexible rope...

"As the men work their way slowly along the hedge they grub out the unwanted stuff and clean the hedge of anything tending to choke it. If there is a ditch to one side, that is cleared of accumulated rubbish. Any stuff that is of no use goes on to a steadily burning fire.

"All this work contributes a great deal to the quality of the land, and the satisfactory containment of livestock..."

*From: The Shell Book of Country Crafts, text and drawings by James Arnold, published in 1968 by John Baker (Publishers) Ltd, London, pp. 243 - 248.