Dear all
a fascijnating, if ironically deja vu disucssion.
were it not long since the Loss of heddgerows was bemoaned?
And this curious return to the privileging of the Gaze.
[ I would suspect that the ambulatory of horse riding, and motor and other bikes, other mobilities etc, would offer interesting elaboraion on this froma bigger perspective of perforrmance, etc...
best
David
>>> Rhys Evans <[log in to unmask]> 09/24/07 11:51 AM >>>
Richard, your message very accurately represents the changing constructions of hedgerows in 21st century Britain -- yet another reflection of the changing relations of production present in the British countryside. Not that the consumption of these 'natures' didn't occur during the time Nick and others speak of, but rather that the discourses of land and labour which surround them have changed so much.
Interestingly, i am working on a project with Dr. Alex Franklin called Equine Landscapes which looks at the various ways in which the growth of horsey activities might produce new socio-natures and perhaps, new rural spaces within Britain. One of the ways we have explored this is the 'scopic regime' of equine activities -- horse riders' eyes are from 8 to 10 feet off the ground, which opens up a brand new visual countryside when 'hacking' past hedgerows.
Given horse riders' propensity to 'reward' equine-friendly landscapes with large spends, perhaps Hillary's high hedgerows might form new spaces of contestation about 'nature' -- a battle long familiar to ramblers.....
As an aside, i ride an old BMW touring motorcycle, which puts my eyes about two to three feet higher than they are in a car -- and even this brings new visual perspectives when i am riding around the countryside.
best
rhys
Dr Rhys Evans
Integrate Consulting
Blairgowrie Scotland,
www.integrateconsulting.co.uk
[log in to unmask]
>>> richard spalding <[log in to unmask]> 08/30/07 11:22 AM >>>
.......WE CLIMBED over National Trail styles bounded by barbed wire "hedges", under track ways (covered in half chewed hazelnuts) made secret by unmanaged high hedges, past blackberry thickets and up and over stone hedges onto the "common" land.
WE GAZED from Hatterrall Hill onto the patchwork of hedge, copse and brook, much of it private and unreachable except from this vantage point. It seemed almost voyeuristic to imagine ourselves down there amongst those landscapes of labour ; those banks, ditches and wavy-edged markers of control.
Offering a continuation of the "nature cure" encounters proposed by Richard Maybey, WE SAW the quilt of pasture protected by the countless "stock-sheltering wind barriers" of these wild Marches.
WE CONSUMED hedges with our eyes and enjoyed our escape onto the Black Hill.
Nothing was stolen, save for for few blackberries and bilberry stains on our backs where we lay on that glorious day
Glimpses of private hedge from the high ridges suggest that we might celebrate "hedges as healers" and not just as functional ramparts.
.......................................................................................................................
I can send a picture of this hedgescape if anyone is interested.
Richard Spalding
----- Original Message -----
From: Carl Griffin
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 5:11 PM
Subject: Re: tall hedgerows
I concur Nick, your excellent paper in the current issue of Rural History would be a good place to start if Hillary wishes to understand the shadowy nature of the English hedge.
In addition, it's interesting to note that in the late eighteenth- century the agricultural 'improver' Arthur Young railed against tall - and thick - hedges. Not only did they shade the crops, thus preventing them from ripening, but they also led to mildew. Anyone with a keen eye could therefore quickly judge how efficient a farmer was by the height of her/his hedges. Other early nineteenth- century commentators, Charles Vancouver amongst them, warned that hedges should be free from fruit trees so as to prevent any temptations to the poor. According to Thomas Rudge in his General View of the County of Gloucester, medlars in particular should not be tolerated to exist in hedgerows for 'it is bad policy to increase temptations to theft; the idle among the poor are already too prone to depredation, and would still be less inclined to work, if every hedge furnished the means of support'.
So tall hedges are most certainly a very bad thing.
_________________________________
Dr. Carl J. Griffin,
Lecturer in Human Geography,
Queen's University, Belfast
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Nick Blomley
Sent: 29 August 2007 16:51
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: tall hedgerows
If anyone is at all interested, I've recently published a piece in the journal Rural History on the role of hedges in early modern English enclosure. C17th husbandry manuals describe how to build a redoubtable hedge (several feet high, interwoven, doubled, ditched) to keep out the commoner and his or her cattle from newly enclosed land.
The modern hedge, with all its positive associations of leafy lanes and Englishness, has a rather nasty class history. Once an instrument of privatization, the hedge has now become a sort of common property, which farmers are enjoined from rooting up.
Nick Blomley
Begin forwarded message:
From: Dr Hillary Shaw <[log in to unmask]>
Date: August 28, 2007 3:13:36 PM PDT (CA)
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: tall hedgerows
Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
Does anyone else here think the hedgerows are excessively tall and thick this year? Driving along many country lanes, in Shropshire, Somerset, and several other UK locations, one seems to see actually very little of the countryside one is passing through, merely an endless 'green canyon' effect, which can make a rural drive, or cycle ride or walk, somewhat dull (one hedge looks very much like the past 10 miles of the same).
Was it always like this? I am sure I remember when a trip to the country actually meant seeing some fields, hills, views etc.
If it has changed, why? Very wet summer, pro-wildlife policies by farmers, lazy farmers can't be bothered trimming hedges, or maybe they can't afford to anymore, they don't want us to be poking our snouts into their property, or (here's one for the conspiracy theorists) they'd rather us townie tourists kept actually in the towns, spending our money on charged-for attractions - "a love of nature has one major drawback, it keeps no factories busy" - George Orwell.
Hillary Shaw, Newport, Shropshire,
PS where can I get large extendable strimmers attached to the sides of my car about 4 feet up from the ground?
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Nicholas Blomley,
Professor,
Department of Geography,
Simon Fraser University,
Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, CANADA
778-782-3713
[log in to unmask]
http://www.sfu.ca/geography/people/faculty/Faculty_sites/NickBlomley/index.htm
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Nicholas Blomley,
Professor,
Department of Geography,
Simon Fraser University,
Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, CANADA
778-782-3713
[log in to unmask]
http://www.sfu.ca/geography/people/faculty/Faculty_sites/NickBlomley/index.htm
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