Lay Lines
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More and more hedgerows in the county are now being managed using traditional methods. In This month's magazine Edward Griffiths meets up with some hedgelaying experts.
Traditional hedgelaying in this country is thought to date back to Roman times, but recent constraints on councils', landowners’ and farmers’ budgets have resulted in the proliferation of unsightly hedge-top flailing. Not only do these oversize lawnmowers shred hedges and wildlife indiscriminately, but they’re also cost counter-productive because all new growth starts way above ground level, leaving huge gaps which have to be protected with wire fencing to prevent stock from escaping.
But we don’t want to talk too much about ‘modern’ trends. We’d rather tell you about the present-day hedgelayers who practise this traditional craft, and how some of the county’s experts have honed their skills over countless miles of Dorset hedges.
Dorset hedges consist mostly of hazel and blackthorn, but patches of hawthorn, sycamore, dogwood and, even elm, are found in some areas. When these hedges are laid in the traditional manner, it encourages new shoots and new life into the base of the hedge, making it stock-proof and offering nesting sites and a means of passage for smaller wildlife.
In the old days, hedges were laid every 10 years, but recent practice is to re-lay them every seven years. Various finished heights and depths can be accommodated, depending on the livestock to be contained – or deer, badgers and rabbits to be excluded.
As much of Dorset is technically designated as ‘downland farming’, hedges are mostly laid in Dorset style, although you will find some in Devon style as you near the western borders. Both types result in a 2-3ft-high hedge, ideally suited to the control and shelter of sheep on downland.
In the traditional Dorset style, whether learned on the farm or at college, the main branches and stems, called ‘pleachers’, are laid, or ‘plashed’, very flat to the ground or bank. Successive pleachers are then tucked and woven into the previous ones, until the hedge is complete. Occasionally, but only if really necessary, pleachers may be secured at intervals with flexible lengths of branch cut from the hedge. Called ‘binders’, these are wrapped over the hedge and tucked under pleachers on both sides. Devon style is very similar to this, except that lengths of branch, chosen with a natural hook at the top and called ‘crooks’, are pushed vertically into the hedge instead. Whichever style is used, the branches are always laid with an uphill slope, so the sap will flow and the pleachers won’t die off.
When you look closely at a laid hedge, it can be quite startling to see how drastically each stem has been cut. Easily three-quarters of each branch is sliced through, leaving the laid branches with an apparently tenuous hold on life. Yet they all survive, and happily send out new growth when the spring arrives.
And that brings me to another aspect of hedgelaying that came as something of a surprise, although it’s quite obvious when you think about it. It’s a seasonal activity, between October and March, when the hedges are dormant and the birds haven’t started nesting. Also, streamers of vetch, tangles of brambles and hordes of stinging nettles under the hedge are dead, so they’re more easily removable. Even then, by the end of the season, the professional hedgelayer’s arms are covered in scratches from the treacherous barbs of the blackthorn.
As the branches are almost completely cut through before being layered along the ground or into the burgeoning hedge, this clearly leaves an unsightly wedge, called a ‘tongue’ or ‘heel’, pointing skywards at the base of the original cut. To improve the appearance, and to prevent disease and wet-rot at this vulnerable spot, the tongue or heel is sliced off at an angle which will shed the rain.
And now, let’s have a look at the variety of tools used to slice, cut and lay the various thicknesses of timber used in traditional hedgelaying. Actually, there aren’t many. The basic tool of the trade is the billhook, although there are several different types, and each has its own special features. There are small single-edged ones for tight spaces, and very slender ones for trimming soft, top growth, but the mainstay is the double-edged billhook. On one edge, the blade is straight for most of its length but with a curved end and, on the other edge, the blade is totally straight. At the end of the tool, between the two blades, there is a V-shaped notch which is useful for holding down and manoeuvring individual pleachers during the hedge’s construction.
The other traditional tools are just a simple hand-axe and a carborundum sharpening-tool, although most contract hedgelayers have started using a chainsaw for the thicker branches.
There must be quite a few older hands in Dorset who still practise the traditional skills on their own farms, and we were fortunate to stumble across Mike Frampton actually working on one of his own hedges at Burstock Grange Farm where he was born.
Mike is really a dairy and sheep farmer but he has laid hedges at Burstock since he was a boy of 15, and he has won several first prizes at the annual Melplash Ploughing and Hedgelaying Competition. Last year, as Mike was giving the competition a miss, he was invited to officiate as a judge instead.
We asked him what are the criteria for judging a competition hedge. He explained that a section of hedge, approximately eight-10-yards long, is pegged out for each competitor, so that everybody gets roughly the same amount of work to do. There are a possible 10 points to be won in each of four stages. First is for preparation, or ridding-out, by clearing weeds, debris and tangled growth. Second is for digging a ditch two-spits wide on one or both sides of the hedge, to clear away spreading roots and persistent weed growth, and for building up the bank under the hedge. Third is for the actual hedgelaying, and fourth is for neatness of the finished hedge and for tidiness of the site on completion.
The two younger practitioners who explained their art to us are professional hedgelayers during the season, each having vast experience in contract hedgelaying. Both are members of the National Hedgelaying Society, which has HRH The Prince of Wales as its patron, himself being well-versed in the subject. Multi-award-winning Russell Woodham of Grounds Maintenance, Dorchester, is also a council contractor for fencing and grass-cutting. He was taught the hedgelayers’ skills by a farmer-turned-lecturer at Kingston Maurward College. Russell will travel all over Dorset and the surrounding counties, and even to Europe if asked.
Peter Snelson of Countryside Conservation Services gained his HND in Countryside Management at Cannington College, now Bridgwater College, in Somerset. Also a dry-stone-walling instructor and practitioner, Peter carries out coppicing, hedge-cutting, footpath clearance and private grounds maintenance. He prefers to work in an area within a 30-mile radius of his home near Sherborne. If you go to the local shows, like the Melplash Ploughing and Hedgelaying Competition, or the Blackmore Vale Hunt Competition, you’ll probably find Russell or Peter taking part, or exhibiting their other countryside skills.
Government grants are encouraging landowners and farmers to return to the traditional methods and, after decades of neglect, more and more hedges are now being managed in this way. Whatever you may have learned about hedges and hedgelaying from this article, Russell Woodham would just like you to remember his motto: ‘Lay it, don’t top it!’
Have you seen any good examples of hedgelaying in Dorset? If so, why not tell us where on the forum on our website www.dorsetmagazine.co.uk