Can you age a Hedge!!?

[PeteB]

To be honest, dendrochronology is the surest way of telling the age of a woody stem. But as previously stated, the local historical records group may help with old maps, photographs and local knowledge. Try finding aerial pictures too, even google earth may help as occasionally they go back to 1945!

[slack ma girdle]

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.

 

So the hedge that i planted last year with 25 tree species, and 9 shrub species, must be over 3000 years old........ !

[Giles Hill]

It's not so much the age of any individual plant within the hedge, although some individuals can be extremely old, particularly coppice stools, what is more important in historic terms is how long there has been a hedge there, and even more important how old is the boundary upon which the hedge is located.

 

Some boundaries relate to Roman, iron age or even prehistoric features. The hedge itself might be more recent, but it was often easier to reuse existing boundaries rather than move them and so some features associated with hedges date back thousands of years.

 

Here's a couple from Oliver rackhams 'The History of the Countryside...

 

If you take a look at this aerial picture, you will see Brettenham Road / Mitcherry Lane - it's a Roman Road that has been diverted at some point, but the hedge marks the course of the old road.

hitcham suffolk - Google Maps

 

This pattern of rectangular hedgerows in Essex is part of an Iron age or Roman field grid:

burnham on crouch - Google Maps

Edited February 1, 2011 by Giles Hill

[blazer]

So the hedge that i planted last year with 25 tree species, and 9 shrub species, must be over 3000 years old........ !

 

spot on - the Victorians planted hedges to look old by using many types of shrub.

 

One clue is to look at the field pattern and see if it's made up from straight lines meaning post enclosure act. Some have a field higher one side than the other from soil movement over time. A boundry, even a ditch and bank from an old wood enclosure, or parish etc, or along a old route could now be a bridle way, wide hedges could mean an old drove road route.

 

The OS maps go back to 1799 onwards, and were drawn up for military use hence the Ordnance as in field guns, so the military knew the ground in case the 'Frogs' came for a visit. I have a copy of the original 1" for Banbury but it doesn't show hedges.