Regional styles.

[Guest Gimlet]

1 hour ago, Stere said:

Does the NE have much in rotation   hazel coppice for the  binders etc?

 

 

 

So the  local style sounds similar to Lancs. & Westmorland ?

 

 

 

 

Very little in Durham and Northumberland but more in Cumbria and North Yorkshire. 

[Stere]

Locally in N Wales alot of the hazel is on limestone think N Yorks/ cumbria has alot of limestone....

[Guest Gimlet]

The stone used for walling where I am on the Durham/Northumberland border is a brown sand stone. I think the soil is quite acid too. Hazel does grow here but now you mention it, there's not nearly as much of it as in limier regions.

[Stere]

Geology of Britain viewer | British Geological Survey (BGS)

MAPAPPS.BGS.AC.UK

 

Just looked up this map  the limestone  matches well where most hazel  grows here.

[Guest Gimlet]

There some interesting documents published by Durham county council about hedges. Essentially, enclosure came to the north east relatively late. Down south, hedges can be extremely ancient but few hedges here are more than 250 years old, meaning they tend to have low species diversity, being mostly hawthorn. 

That is probably why there isn't the hazel coppicing tradition here you see in other parts of the country.

 

Saying that, there are hurdle makers advertising in Durham and there is a Durham hedgerow partnership supported by the county council. There seems to be a decent amount of new hedgerow planting going on too, which is encouraging. 

Most of the hedges are in the lowland areas away from the Pennines and most show signs of having been laid in the past. The style where referred to tends to be described simply as "northern", which means laid low and flat and interwoven with no staking or binding at all. You can get away with that with pure thorn but I can't see mixed hedging staying in place in more exposed locations with the wind up here.

 

Basically, I think it's a fairly blank canvas up here regarding hedge laying. There is certainly some enthusiasm for hedging with good support from the local authority and good take up of environmental grants. There are a few places were the Woodland Trust are trying to establish hazel coppice as well. 

I think there's scope to promote hedge laying and I don't see why the style can't be flexible, adapting according to location and conditions. 

Edited February 7, 2022 by Gimlet

[Guest Gimlet]

Had a really useful chat with a chap from the Northumberland hedgelaying society yesterday. The situation is pretty much as I thought. Field hedges are almost all Northumberland style - everything laid and woven in, no stakes except where absolutely necessary and then they're trimmed off so they don't show. All stakes used harvested from the hedge. And no bindings.

 

Farmers like it because it's cheaper with no materials to buy in, so there's little or nothing they have to find on top of the grant funding, meaning there's plenty of demand, and it's fairly fast to do. 

 

Garden hedges are exactly as I suspected. Staked and bound for neatness and height with Midland, SoE or Monmouth being the preferred styles. 

 

I'm quite warming to the idea of Northumberland style for the field hedges. It will be quite nice to just get on with it and not have to organise and pay for coppice material up front. 

 

And another job come in to price this afternoon. 

Edited February 8, 2022 by Gimlet

[Mark J]

5 hours ago, Gimlet said:

Had a really useful chat with a chap from the Northumberland hedgelaying society yesterday. The situation is pretty much as I thought. Field hedges are almost all Northumberland style - everything laid and woven in, no stakes except where absolutely necessary and then they're trimmed off so they don't show. All stakes used harvested from the hedge. And no bindings.

 

Farmers like it because it's cheaper with no materials to buy in, so there's little or nothing they have to find on top of the grant funding, meaning there's plenty of demand, and it's fairly fast to do. 

 

Garden hedges are exactly as I suspected. Staked and bound for neatness and height with Midland, SoE or Monmouth being the preferred styles. 

 

I'm quite warming to the idea of Northumberland style for the field hedges. It will be quite nice to just get on with it and not have to organise and pay for coppice material up front. 

 

And another job come in to price this afternoon. 

That sounds promising mate. I think you've found the right balance. 

[Alberich4]

Styles are surely competition styles and only a rough guide for what should be done in the field.  SOE style was set up by a bunch of hedgelayers who declared how they did it and an amalgamated and agreed style was set up for their competitions.  

[organic guy]

Styles relate to the cropping, stocking and geology? of an area.

Midland in mixed farming areas, high stock hedge, heavy binding to keep big bullocks out of corn.

Devon, Somerset styles to keep sheep and lambs off banks, laid low and tight.

Welsh styles all very thick to keep sheep in, then multiple local farmer variations according to their own preference, skills, needs whether it is rejuvenation of an old hedge or thickening of a new one.

The principles of pruning, resetting the age, development of the plant and keeping pleachers alive apply to all styles.

[Guest Gimlet]

Northumberland style is a case of necessity. It's basically Dorset without the bank or the bonds. Unpegged and unbound. And that's because there is virtually no hazel coppice up here. Or any sort of coppice. You leave long stubs when trimming (five or six inches) and hook the hedge to itself. Works very well because hedges tend to be pure hawthorn. 

 

Only drawback is the time you save in not having to hammer in stakes and apply bindings you lose in weaving everything in tight, because if you don't the wind will have it away. 

On the other hand, it is nice not having the hassle of trying to source stakes and binders and pay for them in advance.