The typical Cornish hedge is a stone-faced earth hedgebank with bushes or trees growing along the top. It is called a "hedge", never a "hedgerow" or "wall". Our hedges may be of bare stone encrusted with lichens and mosses, or disappear under luxuriant greenery. Between these extremes are many variations, depending on the type of stone used, the local climate and the style of farming. Hedges are our largest semi-natural wildlife resource and our most prominent landscape feature. Their history is preserved in their structure.
In Cornwall there are still about 30,000 miles of hedges, and over three-quarters of these are anciently established. The earliest Cornish hedges enclosed land for cereal crops during the Neolithic Age (4000-6000 years ago). Prehistoric farms were about 5-10 hectares, with fields about 0.1 ha for hand cultivation. Many hedges date from the Bronze and Iron Ages, 2000-4000 years ago, when Cornwall's traditional pattern of landscape became widely established. Other hedges were built during Mediæval field rationalisations; more originated in the tin-and-copper industrial boom of the 18th and 19th centuries, when many of the heaths and uplands were re-enclosed. Hedges from all these times are still very visible in the landscape and in normal use.
These hedges need looking after. Even well-built hedges suffer from the effects of tree roots, burrowing rabbits, rain, wind, farm animals and people. Eventually the hedge sides lose their batter, bulge outwards and stones fall. How often repairs are needed depends on how well the hedge was built, its stone and what has happened to it since it was last repaired. Typically a hedge needs a cycle of repair every 150 years or so, or less often if it is fenced. If minor repairs are neglected, the hedge can quite soon become ruinous and in danger of removal.
There is a demand for new hedges. Building new, and repairing existing hedges is a skilled craft. There are skilled professional hedgers in Cornwall who can be relied on to do a proper job, but there are others who lack correct training and who are pressured to do sub-standard work. Contract gangs find difficulties in training young hedgers satisfactorily while the job is being done. Many volunteers enjoy the therapeutic value of repairing Cornish hedges and want to do a proper job, but need supervision from a skilled craftsman. There is an urgent need for more new craftsmen to replace the older hedgers as they retire.By supporting the Guild of Cornish Hedgers, we trust that this ancient craft will continue into the future, with properly trained apprentices coming forward to look after Cornwall's rich heritage of hedges.