Advice for hard cutting of very overgrown hedge

[Ren]

Hey there folks. After some advice please.

 

At the top of a field, I have what was once a hedge but hasn’t been maintained for years. It is now a bunch of tall hazels and hollies sparsely spread in a bank. Around five metres tall!
 

I got a cheap truck body for storage in the field, needed to cut the overgrown hedge back to allow crane to get truck box in. Time was very short!
 

That’s now completed. I cut the trees at about 4-5’ above the bank.

 

I want to manage this so it returns to being a hedge and screens the field from view. This is only one section…. have about 100 metres to bring back under management. 
 

I should have asked this question before cutting anything…. I figure any additional cutting could be done right about now if needed. I’m wondering if I should have cut lower to encourage bushy growth?
 

Do you have any sage advice for encouraging a hedge!? Many thanks! 

Edited April 1 by Ren

[Dan Maynard]

Likely to sprout from the tops where you've cut, I would coppice them back to stumps and infill with some native hedging mix as long as you can stand it being open for a while.

[woody paul]

As above, better hedge in the end.. 

[Ren]

Thanks guys, that’s kind of what I thought… will cut back to stumps and infill. 

[GarethM]

Might be worth doing the full length and getting some fencing guys in.

 

Nothing worse than half a fence line and gives you the opportunity to straighten it up in the process.

[nepia]

I'd do exactly what Dan suggests.  The fact that the hedge is atop a bank like it is suggests an old hedgerow which makes it well worthwhile maintaining/rejuvenating for Nature's sake. What's in your pic will be teeming with mini beasts and for the full 100m.  Try not to damage the bank and its covering too much and Nature will repay

[kav]

I would say coppice and plant up. Might be worth trying to layer some of the smaller stuff and see if it takes root

[Bill C]

I know it's a bit late for advice now, first off it's a bit late in the season to lay a hedge and you've already cut the hedge, but with a bit of planning it's possible  (I've seen the skilled people do it) to lay fairly large trunks as a hedge,  it's not as easy as it looks(people who know what they're doing always make it look easy). If you go on the Black Down Hedge Association home page 

http://bhha.info//Default.aspx

and facebook page there is several photo's of various hedges being worked on by novices and experts alike. The end results are very good, most are Devon style which by the photo in your post might suit your hedge.