A survey of hedgerows in the parish of Ingatestone and Fryerning
hedges, encompassing all the farms in the area. Individuals of every species, apart from Hawthorn,
Blackthorn and Bramble (for which it proved impossible) were counted in each hedge, a probable
accuracy level of 95%-100% being achieved for most of them. Apart from the three species
mentioned above, the exceptions were either those species that produce large numbers of cloned
suckers, such as Elm, or climbing species like Honeysuckle and Black Bryony, whose root stock is
often difficult to detect. Accuracy levels for these species were probably closer to 90%. The results,
although crude (insomuch as no account was made of the length of each hedgerow) do give a clear
picture of the relative abundance of each species in both the parish hedgerows as a whole and - in
the case of some of the larger farms where sufficient hedges remained to make the project viable -
of individual landholdings. These results are set out in Table 2 overleaf.
The total distance (in metres) of the hedgerows surveyed is an approximate figure only. A further
analysis was made between hedges that occupy the site of field boundaries that were present on the
Ingatestone estate map of 1600 and those that were planted in succeeding centuries to 1900. The
results are displayed in the table below.
Table 1. Pre-1600 and 1600-1900 hedgerows
Notes on selected species
Elm: Judged on old photographs, the vast majority of mature elms in the parish before the onset of
Dutch Elm Disease were Ulmus procera. Ulmus minor appears to have been rare and young trees
with the leaf characteristics of this species remain almost unknown in the parish hedgerows. Ulmus
glabra is equally scarce - and in the few places where it does occur was almost certainly introduced
- but the common hybrid between this species and minor, the so-called Dutch Elm (Ulmus x
hollandica), was widely - if locally - planted in the parish in the past. It is particularly common at
The Hyde. This hybrid has the suckering habit of. minor. Lineage Elms - the glabra x minor hybrid
which displays the coppicing habit of the former - docs not occur in the parish but it has been
planted in hedgerows elsewhere in the Writtle Forest, notably at Roxwell.
Sessile Oak: This is a woodland oak. It only occurs in hedgerows in the immediate vicinity of
ancient woodland, although a few young trees have colonised secondary woodland some distance
from these woods. There are exceptional numbers of Sessile Oaks in two hedgerows at Howlett's
Hall, one of which links two ancient woodlands, while the other once formed the boundary of Oak
Redding, a wood grubbed out in the 1800s. This is due to its ability to reproduce from seed in such
hedgerows, in marked contrast to woodland, where young trees are almost unknown. Elsewhere on
the farm it is scarce in hedgerows. Similar comments could be made for other woodland species
such as Aspen and Silver Birch, both of which are confined to hedgerows close to existing or
former woodland, while Sweet Chestnut is unknown outside its woodland strongholds. Only
Hornbeam and, to a lesser extent, Holly, among the common woodland trees have regularly been
incorporated into hedges in the past.
Wild Service: This species was present in 20% of the hedgerows surveyed. In several of them,
ancient coppice stools were flanked on either side by several suckers. Where the latter were obviously
long established, they were counted as separate bushes, which has boosted the total for this species.
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 21 (2004)
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