Barbed Wire and the law

Hi Fred.

Yes, however, at 1' every other year - unless I want to do the hedge serious damage - it's going to take a very long time before the woodlandand side is cut back far enough for me to erect my additional fence close to the rootline of the hedge.

Richard

Yep, per Section 164 of the Highways Act 1980. But I'm not adjoining a public highway etc. So it's the Occupiers Liability Act that I have to negotiate.

Richard

Pyracantha is the right answer :-)

If there is anything which says "persistent attempts cause persistent agony and a singular lack of progress", and is legal, that is it. It can also grow surprisingly quickly when watered and fed at the right time of year.

It is natures barbed wire - and in depth too.

Stakes.... Just plain wooden stakes.

Wander around the woodland and choose plenty of straight(ish) lengths of branches fallen from the wind, cut to the length you need to fill the height of under the hedge or buy some already made/make some yourself.

Under the hedge hammer them home at 12" or less intervals pointing upward into the hedge or even up into the hedge as exists. Interweave longer "Withies" in-between parallel to the ground up to the height you require. Bind if required with soft steel wire or cable ties to the uprights.

Less sharp edges, less issues with trespassers and in time maintenance friendly in that you'd only need to slip in some new Withies to plug the gaps if damaged and best of all it will look more environmentally friendly under the hedge than a row of netting or the like.

I'd use stockfence posts hammered straight into the ground, rylock stock fencing to exclude dogs/people rather than wire netting.It is much more robust; and cheaper iirc (from an agricultural fencing contractor). You will need a larger strainer post at each end/corner. If you want to keep out rabbits, attach wire netting to the rylock.

When we came here the only boundary between us and the sheep meadow, was a very gappy hawthorn hedge.. keeping dog in/sheep and hares out was essential so we used wooden fencing posts (no metposts) rylock and rabbity netting.

Don't waste your money. It won't deter any determined human and dogs won't try to jump over a fenced hedge. But it can do nasty damage to innocent/accidental human or dog contact.

Janet

You can use barbed wire but it must be entirely out of reach of any 'innocent' contact - think children, elderly or blind.

Mahonia is pretty vicious too!

Bill

Beat me to it :-)

One thing - general pruning advice may be best practice but then again sometimes you 'just have to hack' and often the plant survives. So is there a faster way to regenerate a mature beech hedge than about 16 years of laborious cutting back? I am getting a bit confused between the OP's two strategies - lots of small cut backs or " Once I have secured the barrier I can cut the hedge back ruthlessly which will encourage it to bush out." Most of the suggestions about hacking back the external side and then putting up the fence there seem to have been rejected because of a "1' per year" rule. How far do you have to cut back (down?) to encourage the bottom to regenerate, how long is this likely to take to grow back to an acceptable height (2m+?) and is it perhaps more effective just to grub the old hedge out and replant, possibly with a more aggressive hedge?

Cheers

Dave R

I had a dog jump over barbed wire at 2am and sever his penis. It was a right old game because I had to assist the vet do the repair. I'd rather watch a woman give birth to twins than watch a needle sew a penis back on.

Bill

We can't run the world on that basis! Such categories of person should be heavily supervised.

Bill

Dog-rose is pretty good.

Thanks Janet

The dogs go through the gaps at the bottom of the hedge, so the netting is a low-level obstruction for them.

Unfortunately I can't get the swing to hammer posts into the ground, hence the Metposts.

Richard

Hello Dave

Sorry to confuse over the pruning strategy. I have no intention of doing anything more than cutting back by 1' per year on alternate sides unless I'm advised differently by someone who can support their assertions to the contrary!

Richard

Would a hedge-layer be able to create a laid(?) hedge 12' high? Or, perhaps a fairer way to phrase it, how high could they lay a hedge? All the hedge laying I have done has created hedges at about 4 or

Richard

I wonder if he could use the type of low electric rabbit fencing discussed in another thread. I think it's 2' to 3' high.

Long established beech will respond to brutal treatment. Get a chainsaw and reduce it to a foot tall; giving you good access to install the fencing and give the root area a good mulch with old manure. The regrowth will be dense to the bottom and regular trimming to the correct shape will keep it that way. If you install your fence close to the stumps, eventually it will be completely concealed within the new hedge growth.

As the hedge regrows, to keep it dense at the bottom, the bottom needs light. So the sides should be wider at the base and narrower at the top.

Janet

We can and do, it's a well established legal constraint about the use of barbed wire on domestic-home boundaries where the public has access on the other side.

Janet

I don't know, I 've seen over 9' but don't know the maturity .

That would depend on the person and probably depth of your wallet.

Yes, the initial height is usually at a shoulder height maximum and further growth will need tending to usefully increase the height.

Yes, but it will stop low-level penetration.