A survey of hedgerows in the parish of Ingatestone and Fryerning
For the most part, though, it tends to occur singly in a hedge. It appears to be confined to hedges on
the more acidic Bagshot Sands and Claygate Beds, and there are no records from the two major
farms - Ingatestone Hall and Margaretting Hall (Ray) Farms - situated on the London Clay.
Cherry Plum/Sycamore: The former was found in 10% and the latter 21% of the hedgerows
surveyed. Both are absent from all well maintained ancient hedgerows. In many instances Cherry
Plum appears to have been deliberately introduced - I have seen it sold as Blackthorn in some tree
nurseries - whereas the latter is an opportunist, colonising hedgerows that are suffering from neglect,
but only if there is a mature tree as a source of seed close at hand.
Hedgerow trees
Following the disappearance of mature elms - which were common in hedgerows throughout the
parish until the 1970s - Pedunculate Oak and Ash are now the principal standard trees in hedges.
During the present survey an attempt was made to count all the standard trees of these two species,
and also Sessile Oak and Hornbeam. A distinction was drawn between young or adolescent trees and
mature standards, the latter including all trees judged to be thirty or more feet in height. The former
were included in the table, above, the latter were not. This was not an entirely arbitrary decision as
without careful examination of the rootstocks it was often difficult to decide whether many of the
younger trees were true standards or arose from old coppice stools. Thus, around 400 of the 536 oaks
recorded were young or adol escent trees. Oak, managed as a hedgerow shrub, is relatively scarce. The
number of mature standards was 347 while there were also 21 pollards. Ash is far more likely to be
treated as coppice in hedges than oak but, even so, around 100 of the 273 recorded were either adolescent
trees or single poles arising from old coppice. There were also 55 mature standards and four pollards.
Hornbeam is almost always coppiced in hedges and only 15 mature standards plus 11 pollards were
recorded. Sessile Oak has been dealt with above: all 131 trees in the table were adolescent trees or
mature coppice, while there were a further 17 mature standards. No mature Field Maple standards
were recorded, but there were three old pollards. The records of Sycamore, Crack Willow, Beech,
Aspen, Horse Chestnut and other, scarcer trees also largely refer to standards or mature coppice.
Analysis
One of the problems in analysing the kind of data set out above is that although maps can tell you
how old a field boundary is, it cannot tell you the age of the hedge currently occupying that site. It
should never be assumed that because a field boundary dates back to 1600 that the current hedge
must necessarily be that old. A truly ancient hedge usually contains some obviously aged coppice
stools - most notably in this area of Field Maple, Hornbeam and Ash - and there are some particularly
fine hedges of this type at Handley Barns, Howlett's Hall and along the Fryerning-Mill Green
ridge. Others, although situated on similarly ancient field boundaries, contain few coppice stools
of any great age and even the mature thorn bushes arc obviously of fairly recent origin. When
viewing the dull uniformity of modern day arable farmland - where not only the landscape but
those who farm it seem to be derived from a single clone - it is difficult to appreciate how diverse
farms used to be, even as little as fifty years ago. (Unkind, I know, but walking modern day farmland
has that effect on you!). That diversity was due, in part, to the energy and enthusiasm displayed by
individual farmers. Some were forward looking and energetic, keen to adopt modern farmi ng methods
when money allowed; others backward looking and sceptical of new ideas, content to muddle
through with the minimum of effort. Some would have maintained their hedgerows, others neglected
them; the latter either becoming overrun with thorn and other scrub, or disintegrating thiough lack of
care. In many instances fields would be enlarged simply by neglecting the hedge between them,
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 21 (2004)
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