The ancient craft of hedge layering taught on-site and also an unusual buried find.
During the Friends of Maghull and District (FOMD) environmental charity project at Bobby’s wood/Woodend (junction of Liverpool Road South/Northway, we have befriended Neil McMahon (The Conservation Volunteers) who provided expert support for our 1480 tree and hedge planting on the site which was undertaken by Hudson primary schoolchildren and the local community in November (1). A 230 m perimeter wildlife friendly hedge was created to provide food, habitat for wildlife but also provide a safe perimeter away from busy traffic and pollution.
Whilst the new rear hedge will eventually hide a long ugly concrete slatted fence, there was a remnant of some of Hawthorne hedging which had evolved into trees. Consequently, the ancient skill of hedge layering which dates back to the Roman era seemed to offer a perfect solution and could benefit the future management of hedges in Maghull’s 14 parks and 19 open spaces.
Hedge layering (2) involves the cutting and layering of stems or preachers to form a living barrier. The process involved cutting the trunk or branch, almost to the last thread of bark, bending the tree horizontally and staking, which allows the minor branches to grow upwards, thus providing a thick low natural barrier/screening close to the base of the tree. The last part of the now horizontal trunk, is encouraged to form new growth through calluses, caused by slicing/skimming off a few small parts of the bark from the trunk.
The course lasted for nearly a whole day on Thursday (11.3.21), Neil provided a fascinating history, introduced a huge array of scary (pictured with MTC Team) cutting tools, that wouldn’t be out of place in a mediaeval torture chamber. Then after a practical demonstration the five members of the MTC maintenance team practised the practical skill to an excellent standard. The course was not only enjoyed by everyone but provided a fantastic legacy of skills.
The prehistoric find concerns and a unusual object we found when separately digging a 3-4 foot hole for a tree. The strange but true find can be spotted in two of the pictures!
In the meantime, we are now in the second of three crowdfunding projects to improve the gateway into Maghull at Bobby’s Wood/Woodend (junction of Liverpool Road South and Northway). We have had an unprecedented response (3) with the community donating 150 shrubs to populate a 50x4m vacant border Our current crowdfunding campaign has raised £240 towards our target of £3-5,000 for new plants here, you can donate and watch a small introductory video at www.justgiving.com/crowdfund/woodend.
Many thanks,
FOMD
1. https://www.facebook.com/groups/154530851941643/permalink/775302356531153
2. See Pictured Leaflet that was provided.
3. https://www.facebook.com/groups/154530851941643/perm