Hedges
Hedgelaying
Before the invention of barbed wire, livestock would be contained by hedges, or by stone walls if material was available locally. A hedge usually consisted of hawthorn or blackthorn, and needed regular attention to keep it in a stock-proof condition. As the hedge grew older and taller, the gaps at the bottom became larger, and major surgery would be required.
It could be coppiced, i.e. cut down to the ground and allowed to regrow from the stump, but the barrier would be lost for a few years. If the stem is cut almost through and laid over, new growth still appears at the base, while the stem continues to produce shoots and still provides a barrier.
There are various styles of hedgelaying. The most common style in Hampshire uses a row of stakes to support the laid stems, called pleachers. Long flexible lengths of hazel, called heathers, are woven along the top to bind the whole thing together. Nowadays hedges are laid primarily to maintain them as features in the landscape and to provide a barrier to humans rather than to livestock.
Hedgelaying at Wick Hill alongside a lane, hence the hi-viz waistcoats.
A quick guide to our style of hedge-laying
- Clear out rubbish Remove long grass, brambles, nettles, deadwood etc. Some previously laid material may also need to be cut out to make room for laying new stems.
- Select which stems to lay Always lay a hedge uphill, starting at the top. If there are many stems coming from a stool, you will probably not be able to lay them all properly. Pick the straightest ones. Others can be removed and possibly used as stakes or heathering.
- Clean up the selected stems Remove all branches within reach which will poke downwards when laid, and any large branches which will stick out sideways.
- Start pleaching Cut downwards with a billhook or axe into the back (i.e. downhill side) of the stem to create a thin hinge on the uphill side. Get someone else to slowly lower the stem down if necessary. Where lots of people are working on sections of the hedge, you may need to temporarily lay your stems slightly out of line. Tidy up the unbent remains of the stem with a saw.
- Add stakes and settle the pleachers Pleachers are held in place by stakes about 4' high. To space them, hold a new stake and put your elbow against the previous one. Put stakes in as laying progresses. Opinions vary as to how much to weave the pleachers around the stakes. Too much weaving is unnecessary and is likely to push the stakes out of line.
- Add the heathering Start this at the uphill end only when there is a good clear length of laid hedge. Thin flexible hazel stems are generally used, preferably about 10' or so long. Use one heather per stake, putting the thick end behind a stake and weaving it along. A more attractive result can be had by spiralling two sets of heathers together, as shown below.
- Tidy up Knock down the heathering to a constant height. Cut off the tops of the stakes, leaving about a fist's width showing. To get the maximum admiration of passers-by, angle the cuts slightly downwards and towards the most public side. Trim off excess hedging sticking out of the sides or top. Unwanted gaps can be filled with dead-hedging, using some of the inevitable pile of waste material.
- There are many other subtleties and techniques for dealing with awkward situations, or just showing off. Just come out on a task and give it a go. Apologies to purists and competition types.
Spiral heathering
1. Put one heather (red) behind the first stake, then weave in-front and behind the next two to hold it in place. Don't weave it anymore, leave the end sticking out of the front of the stakes.
2. Add a second (green) behind the second stake, weave once as before, going over the first heather.
3. Add a third (red) behind the third stake, combining with the first one and going over the second heather.
4. Add a fourth (green) behind the fourth stake, combining with the second one and going over the first and third (red set) heathers.
5. Continue as necessary, always ensuring the unused ends are sticking out of the front to avoid confusion. There will be at least two heathers in each set depending on their length. If possible avoid using a lot of thick heathering as it will be difficult to bind in. The sparse area near the start can be filled with heathering twisted around the first post, if your wrists are thick enough.
Dead-hedging
Regrowth from a coppiced area can be used to make a dead hedge to deter browsing animals, principally deer. Two rows of stakes about five feet apart are hammered in to support the cut material. Flexible stems (heathering) can then be woven along the top to give extra strength, as is done with hedgelaying. This structure should last for a couple of years, by which time the new growth will be less palatable.
At Pamber Forest three sides of the coppice compartment have a dead hedge, while the fourth side, which is alongside the track, has a wire fence. This keeps the compartment visible from the track and makes it less attractive to deer. Although the wire fencing is something of an intrusion in the woodland, this technique has proved to be very effective in allowing the coppice to regrow without being browsed.
