The New Murrey and Blue blog

Yet again I live and learn. I’d wondered why hedges were such an important feature of the medieval landscape, and on reading this article, concerning the Battle of Blore Heath, I’ve discovered why.

“….The Lancastrian position at the beginning of the Battle of Blore Heath was behind a ‘Great Hedge’. ‘Great Hedges’ existed across England, marking boundaries between parishes. A ‘Great Hedge’, typically, comprised two parallel hedges of substantial height, with a path or roadway running between them….”

I have recently come across two Wars of the Roses battles that involved hedges, i.e. Great Hedges. Blore Heath was one battle, the other was Barnet. There will be more, I’m sure, but these two have crossed my screen in recent weeks.

And according to The Barnet Battlefield Project 2015-2018 :-

“….This view was refined by Burne, who sought to identify the hedge described in the Arrival which he claimed, specifying the evidence, was an east-west boundary beside Old Fold. It was this interpretation that was followed by Hammond, and subsequently by English Heritage in their definition of the battlefield boundary for inclusion in the new Register of Historic Battlefields in 1995….”

So there we have it, hedges/Great Hedges were/maybe still are boundary markers.