Agricultural History Review, Volume 58 Part 1 (2010), p. 135

The ‘Hooper method’ of hedge-dating, by which an estimate of the age of a hedge is based on the number of species it contains, has become a popular axiom of landscape studies. Through systematic fieldwork and analysis, Barnes and Williamson set out to test the validity of Hooper’s hypothesis, promising a deeper understanding of the origins and development of hedgerows over time. Contrary to the broad geographical scope suggested by the frontispiece photograph of Herefordshire, the work outlined here consists chiefly of the results of an extensive survey of hedgerows in Norfolk. The authors draw upon an impressive dataset based upon the assessment of some 2,800 hedges collated from 120 parishes in the county.

The volume begins with an introduction to the methodology of hedge dating, focusing upon the pioneering, albeit fundamentally flawed, work of Hooper and his colleagues in the 1960s and ’70s. Subsequent chapters re-evaluate Hooper’s hypothesis by considering in detail the environmental and human factors which have led to the rich diversity of hedges in the Norfolk landscape. Sections on agricultural change and enclosure, regional variation and soil type, will be familiar to readers of Williamson’s earlier work. In this volume, the overriding argument, that soil type plays a significant role in determining not just the number of different species within a hedge but also the species count, is well made. Differences in hedgerow morphology are the consequence of a vast number of variables including multi-species planting, local seed supply, soil fertility, and moisture content, affecting in particular the rate at which new plant species colonize, and methods of management. Thus hedges growing in close proximity often reveal a remarkably different species content. Dismissing Hooper’s hypothesis as a grave over-simplification the authors surmise that ‘there is no way of simply “reading” the age, or origins, of a particular hedge from its present composition’ (p.132). The penultimate chapter considers the regional context of hedges, emphasizing the significant role soils played in giving rise to distinctive regional ecologies. The discussion inevitably moves away from the somewhat dense analysis of hedgerow composition of preceding chapters, to consider regional variations in farming economies and agrarian practices, patterns of enclosure and landholding patterns, all of which influenced the origins and functions of hedges. The authors conclude by calling for greater consideration of hedges in ‘Historic landscape characterization’ projects, a pertinent reminder that it is hedges rather than merely fields that contribute to the physical identity of a region.

The volume provides a useful addition to the practice of landscape history, and its emphasis on analysis on a local and regional scale, and the central importance of the physical environment, soils and topography, reminds us that empirical research does not reside in documents alone. However, the analysis is surprisingly devoid of economic factors, the people who made decisions to plant and manage hedges and the tenurial, social and cultural influences that may have shaped their decisions. There has been considerable research to date on the organization and control of local resources, customary practices and rights including common rights of ‘estover’ and ‘hedgebote’, and it would be interesting to know how and to what extent local customs and rights shaped hedgerow history. The authors stress the lack of documentary evidence especially for the pre- 1700 period. There is just one reference to sources held at The National Archives, which surely underestimates the potential wealth of evidence contained in this and other county record offices. Having been alerted to the potential significance of the humble hedge, future archival studies may bring to light further evidence on the nature of mixed planting regimes, management and the functions of hedgerows as reservoirs of fuel and food, as well as property boundaries. Overall the book is successful in its aim to dispel simplistic methods of hedge-dating and will be of broad interest to researchers interested in historical ecology, conservation, environmental change and regionality.