A Devon hedge, also known as a Devon hedgebank, consist of a rubble or earth bank that is usually topped with bushy

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from tree ...

s forming a

hedgerow A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate a road from adjoini ...

, with trees also being a frequent and noticeable feature.Devon's Hedges (1997), p.1. The bank may be faced with turf or stone.

History

Attention to Devon hedges as a feature worth investigating was raised by Clement Pike in the 1925 volume of the ''Transactions of the

Devonshire Association The Devonshire Association (DA) is a learned society founded in 1862 by William Pengelly and modelled on the British Association, but concentrating on research subjects linked to Devon in the fields of science, literature and the arts. History ...

''. Writing about the patchwork of fields visible from Whitchurch Down, near

Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards (North, South and South West) had a population of 13 ...

on the western fringe of

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous P ...

, he noted: A quarter of

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

's hedges are now thought to be over 800 years old. The Devon Hedge
on the

Devon County Council Devon County Council is the county council administering the English county of Devon. Based in the city of Exeter, the council covers the non-metropolitan county area of Devon. Members of the council (councillors) are elected every four years to ...

website. They were primarily constructed for the purposes of agriculture: as an effective

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to ani ...

-proof barrier; to provide shelter against the wind for livestock and crops; to control soil erosion and

surface runoff Surface runoff (also known as overland flow) is the flow of water occurring on the ground surface when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil. This can occur when t ...

; and to act as a habitat, together with uncultivated field-edges, for beneficial insects that prey on crop pests. Historically, the hedges and hedgerow trees were also a useful source of timber and wood, and their foliage was eaten by the enclosed livestock. The archaeologist

Francis Pryor Francis Manning Marlborough Pryor (born 13 January 1945) is an English archaeologist specialising in the study of the Bronze and Iron Ages in Britain. He is best known for his discovery and excavation of Flag Fen, a Bronze Age archaeological si ...

observes: There are about of hedge in Devon, more than any other county, though this is not all of Devon hedgebank construction. This is because the traditional farming throughout the county has meant that fewer hedges in Devon have been removed than in other counties. The field-pattern of straight hedges enclosing long rectangular fields, as at

Combe Martin Combe Martin is a village, civil parish and former manor on the North Devon coast about east of Ilfracombe. It is a small seaside resort with a sheltered cove on the northwest edge of the Exmoor National Park. Due to the narrowness of the ...

on the north coast of the county indicates that such areas were once

Mediaeval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

field systems with open cultivated land arranged in strips. Some Devon hedges represent ancient boundaries, most likely of early Saxon estates (c. 650–700 A.D.), as where double hedgebanks, either side of a path, follow surviving

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

boundaries.

Wildlife

Devon's hedges are a particularly important

wildlife Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted ...

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

. Around 20% of the UK's species-rich hedges occur within Devon.Species rich hedgerows
fro

Over 600

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants t ...

s, 1500

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pa ...

s, 65

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

s and 20

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur ...

s have been recorded living or feeding in Devon hedges. At the end of the 20th century it was reported that many of the hedgerow trees in Devon hedges were close to the end of their lives; many of them were planted towards the end of the 19th century and their life-expectancy is not likely to exceed 150 years.Devon's Hedges (1997), p.24.

Maintenance

Hedge laying in Devon is usually referred to as steeping and involves cutting and laying steepers (the stems) along the top of the bank and securing them with crooks (forked sticks).

References

Sources

* {{cite book , last=Devon County Council and the Devon Hedge Group , title=Devon's Hedges - Conservation and Management , page=1 , publisher=Devon Books , year=1997 , isbn=1-85522-649-9

External links