Barbed Wire and the law

My garden backs onto woodland owned by my Local Authority. The sole barrier between the garden and the woodland is an old Beech hedge which has become very thin at the bottom and no longer provides a reliable obstruction to dogs and, possibly, a determined intruder.

My plan is to build a fence as close to the rootline as practicable using Metposts, wooden posts and wire netting to the keep the dogs out. What about the human element? Reading various websites suggests that barbed wire is a no-no (typical info. here

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branches extend some 6 - 8' out from the rootline into the woodland making inadvertant contact with the barbed wire difficult.

Once I have secured the barrier I can cut the hedge back ruthlessly which will encourage it to bush out.

Any views about the use of the barbed wire or alternatives?

Rgds

Richard

Reply to
RJS
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Trellis on top of the fence with a nice prickly climber?

Theo

Reply to
Theo Markettos

It's a beautiful Beech hedge some 12' high that has become thin at its base. I'm concealing the dog-proof fence within the thickness of the hedge. I'm not erecting a 'formal' fence within the hedge, just stringing netting from posts that are banged in the straightest line that the roots allow and spaced how the branches allow.

Richard

Reply to
RJS

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> The branches extend some 6 - 8' out from the rootline into the

I'd have thought normal wire fencing (the sort with squares) would be appropriate. It'll stop a determined intruder as much as barbed wire will - either will want cutters.

Reply to
Clive George

Do you mean the stuff that I would call 'stock proof fencing'? Something like 4" squares? Hmm, possibly a good solution but difficult to implement because I'm trying to achieve the situation you get where a fence is built and hedging plants put in next to it - 20 years later you have a hedge growing through a fence.

Maybe I'm going to have to thread 15m lengths of fencing wire back and forth horizontally through my hedge and then do the same vertically to create a wire net inside the hedge and around the branches.

Richard

Reply to
RJS

Under plant with something nice a prickly? Finding something that will grow under a Beech hedge might be interesting. uk.rec.gardening added.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

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> The branches extend some 6 - 8' out from the rootline into the

Planting low growing hedging roses in the garden along the foot of the hedge should stop either getting through.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
Nightjar

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> The branches extend some 6 - 8' out from the rootline into the

I have topped a fence between my garden and a public area of woodland with barbed wire. I added a wire netting fence to the top of the boundary wall to stop the dog getting out. Local kids started using our grounds as a short cut and flattening the wire netting when climbing the wall, thus letting the dog escape again.

I added a single strand of barbed wire to the top (which I hate because it looks ugly) and no more problems.

Mike

Reply to
MuddyMike

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>>> The branches extend some 6 - 8' out from the rootline into the

My understanding is that it is recommended that barbed wire is not installed on fences closer than one metre from a public footpath. So where I have a length of public footpath running along the edge of my field, I have fenced it off with stock fencing with no topping of barbed wire. In all other places the fencing on the farm is standard stock fence topped with two barbed wires

AWEM

Reply to
Andrew Mawson

Get a roll of pig wire. There are different grades - different pitch; wire gauge, quality.

Bill

Reply to
Bill Wright

Indeed, but consider that I am inserting this fence into an existing, mature Beech hedge, i.e. there are horizontal branches from about 3' above the ground. Thus, the bit below the start of the branches - through which the dogs pass - was to be obstructed with wire mesh (not pig or stock - wire) and then I had the problem of constructing a barrier above the mesh that avoids the branches.

Richard

Reply to
RJS

Hi Andrew

I think I saw a post from you on a different forum some time ago in search of barbed wire. My local agricultural engineers sell it at =A335/200m - which seems a bargain when my builder's merchants wants =A315/10m!

My hedge is nowhere near a footpath but that link I posted (and others) strongly suggest that even if the party is trespassing on my property they have a strong case in the event of them suffering injury from my barbed wire because an occupier (me) owes anyone - even a trespasser - a duty of care.

I think that you can put a line of fencing wire on the public side of your fence to stop the window-lickers from injuring themselves and barbed wire on your side to keep cattle etc away from the fence.

Richard

Reply to
RJS

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it keeps out cows and horses only IMHO. Sheep, goats and dogs will get through - use large bore mesh instead.

(YOU CAN make a barbed fence sheep proof, but it needs at least three strands: By the time you have dine that its a lot quicker and almost the same price to string up mesh. Doesn't need to be rabbit mouse and rat proof., so 3-4" mesh is fine. )

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

it works fine with stock mesh.

Nah. Cut the hedge back and welly the mesh in somehow, Then let it grow around and through it

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Hmm. But the recommendation for bringing a Beech hedge back under control when it has 'grown out' too far are to cut it back by no more than 6 - 12" each year on alternate sides. This allows the cut side to recover and bush out the following year. If I did that, it would be about 16 years before the hedge was cut back on the woodland side such that I could put the mesh up. :-)

Richard

Reply to
RJS

Pyracantha, which is also an evergreen will grow almost anywhere and is even more prickly then barbed wire

or the netting you need is called chainlink, it even keeps Badgers out!

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Reply to
Mark

Sounds like you want to do the right thing regarding not extending your boundary but I'd be inclined to put a stock (or pig wire) fence on the outside of the hedge after it has had its first cut back and just take over an extra bit of the woodland, thus avoiding the threading problem.

I'd be wary of adding barbed wire to it as you risk being accused of creating a mantrap if the barbed wire is in any way hidden (which it will be in short order by the growing foliage). If you have bother with scrotes after that I would thread away ;-) (after checking you have 3rd party liability cover on your house insurance). If you are chinned about either the boundary change or barbed wire then blonde it.

Reply to
fred

16 years is long enough to grow it all over again.

Hack and be damned, I say.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

I think if you put up barbed wire that would not normally be get attable, you would be fine. Razor wire is even better. My feeling is that put up a conventional fence and barbed wire behind it, then it would only be those who are intent on access that would get hurt.

Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

Nooo. It would take 16 years to cut back to a point where I can welly the wire in. 1' per two years!

Richard

Reply to
RJS

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