Hedgerow History: Ecology, History and Landscape CharacterOxbow says: For many years hedges have been the most common field boundary in rural Britain, providing a stock-proof barrier, a field boundary and a haven for wildlife. Despite this, they are rarely studied in any detail in landscape archaeology. The authors of Hedgerow History rightly argue that hedges, as an essential feature of the landscape, their origins and development, are as worthy of study as any other part of the landscape. Their book focuses on the species content and diversity of hedges, how these came about and how they changed over time. The introduction provides the background to hedges in Britain, the development of field boundaries, changes in fields and farming, especially the impact of enclosure, hedgerow management, and methods of dating hedges. In an attempt to evaluate the pioneering work of Hooper and Pollard in the 1960s and 1970s, and gain insights into the diversity of hedges and the possible human and animal reasons for it, Barnes and Williamson carried out a detailed survey of hedgerows in Norfolk. Finding 61 shrub species among the Norfolk hedgerows, they attempt to tie this data in with evidence on geology, soils, climate, woodland, enclosure, farming practices and historical factors, as an indicator of the processes of continuity and change that have taken place in the wider landscape. |
Other editions - View all
Hedgerow History: Ecology, History and Landscape Character Gerry Barnes,Tom Williamson Limited preview - 2008 |
Common terms and phrases
acid agricultural arable average number Barrow association Beccles Beccles association blackthorn Breckland character characteristics colonisation common containing each species coppicing Crab Apple districts dog's mercury dogwood Dogwood Crab Apple dominated by hawthorn early East Anglia eighteenth and nineteenth eighteenth century Elms Elder enclosed England estates evidence example extensive farming field boundaries field patterns FIGURE hawthorn Hedgerow History hedges containing hedges growing hedges planted Hertfordshire Holly Hazel Hooper Hypothesis Hooper's rule hornbeam Houghton estate irregular Isleham land landscape history maps medieval metres mixed hedges Newmarket nineteenth century Norfolk hedges north-west Norfolk number of species older hedges open fields parliamentary enclosure particular Percentage of hedges period piecemeal enclosure plashing post-medieval recent hedges recorded regions ROADSIDE HEDGES rose Scots pines sessile oak shrubs soil type south Norfolk species content species per thirty species-poor species-rich hedges suggested survey thirty metres Tilia cordata timber trees Williamson Willows Sycamore wood