Can you age a Hedge!!?

[Climber85]

Hi all,

 

I have a friend who has a Boundary query and wanted me to help age a hedge!? Where do I start? Any tips would be much appreciated!

 

Cheers

[Stephen Blair]

pictures are good, age of house, look inside the hedge and see if there are signs of previous boudery markers ie Rot iron fence, chestnut fence etc. Species of hedge helps too:001_smile:

[John Russell]

"You can estimate the age of an established hedgerow by counting the number of plant species present in random 30-yard lengths -- each species occurring in your sample represents roughly 100 years of age. So, the more species you find, the older the hedge is likely to be."

 

Quote from here

 

Obviously, the fewer the species the more inaccurate this rule of thumb.

 

Read more here.

 

And here. Hedgerow Dating

 

I suppose if you and the hedge get on well it could end in marriage.

 

Best wishes,

 

John Russell

Edited January 31, 2011 by John Russell

[WeeDee]

If you could find the corresponding Ordinance Survey maps of the area, you could then date back to the hedge's appearance (or the boundary at least) on the earliest version.

Limited I know - but another angle.

[slack ma girdle]

It has now been proven (jon stokes, tree council) that you can not age a hedge by the number of species in it.

As weedee says, old maps and historical records are the most accurate. Your local historical society will probably be more than happy to help.

[Arbdog]

This is a piece of Privet,

 

The hedge was planted 70 years ago.

 

All stems were around this size - some smaller and some larger.

 

They had grown into trees due to lack of maintenance.

[Climber85]

Thanks for the info and links, It was a good size Privet hedge then!!?

[Giles Hill]

Where abouts is the hedge? Can you provide a link to an aerial picture?

 

You can get some clues from the field pattern. Most existing mature field hedgerows are pre 20th Century. The ones planted in the 18th & 19th centuries were mostly a result of the parliamentary enclosure act and tend to be co-axial, meaning two of the boundaries are parallel, they also tend to be straight, thin and mostly hawthorn.

 

Beyond that I'd struggle to write anything sensible. I'm normally just happy to accept it's old enough to be interesting if it pre-dates the 18th century - around here older hedges might have multi-stem ash or field maple growing from huge coppice stools, or big pollard oaks. There's a really old one not so far away on either side of a sunken drovers track has some great big multi-stem small leaf lime - these are an indicator of former ancient woodland.

 

I'd recommend Oliver Rackham's book if you're interested in such things. It is really fascinating and provides a host of clues to look out for.

[richyrich236]

I was taught Hoopers Hypothesis in college when ageing hedges, the basic rule is:

 

Age of the hedge in years = number of woody plant species x 100.

 

This is obviously only an indicative ageing process that will give you some idea as to the age of it.

 

To be more accurate, digging a little deeper is required, old maps, plans etc.

[John Russell]

I was taught Hoopers Hypothesis in college when ageing hedges, the basic rule is:

 

Age of the hedge in years = number of woody plant species x 100.

 

This is obviously only an indicative ageing process that will give you some idea as to the age of it.

 

To be more accurate, digging a little deeper is required, old maps, plans etc.

 

I find it difficult to believe Hooper was correct. The hedge alongside my house is not much more than 250 years old because it is not on the maps I have dated around 1750: however it contains at least 9 substantial tree species -- off the top of my head -- oak, ash, hazel, alder, blackthorn, hawthorn, beech, goat willow + ivy.

 

Best wishes,

 

John Russell