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Hedgerow Importance
Wales has an extensive network of hedgerows, with estimates suggesting around 75,000–76,000 km of hedges across the country. However, between 1984 and 1990 alone, an estimated 25% of Welsh hedgerows were lost. While some were deliberately removed, poor or discontinued management was also a major factor, with neglected hedges gradually becoming lines of trees, shrubs or relict hedgerows.
The environmental benefit of hedgerows is widely recognised now. However, the 2025 Welsh Hedgerow report revealed that there is still urgent need to protect our hedgerows. The report identified that only 17% of hedgerows were in good condition.
Well maintained hedgerows can:
Act as vital corridors for small mammals (mice, voles, shrews etc), birds (warblers, finches, yellowhammers etc) and various other animals.
In Spring/Summer, hedgerows come to life and act as pollinator support for bees.
They help maintain soil health by reducing soil erosion and offer climate resilience by reducing the impact of drought and flooding.
Centuries of Living Boundaries
Centuries of Living Boundaries
Hedgerows have shaped the Welsh countryside for centuries. As agricultural land became increasingly enclosed from the sixteenth century onwards, hedges provided farmers with practical boundaries for managing livestock and separating grazing land from crops.
Many surviving hedgerows form part of much older field patterns, while local materials, landscapes and farming practices led to distinctive boundary traditions developing across Wales.
Hedgelaying
Prior to the wide use of the tractor mounted flail, hedges would be laid by partially cutting ('pleaching') the base of a stem and gently laying it down. You would repeat this process to create a natural/living boundary. This encourages vigorous new growth from the base, helping to create a dense, healthy living boundary.
Left alone, a hedgerow will gradually become a row of trees. As the trees mature, they lose lower branches, leading to gaps at the base—problematic when the hedge is meant to contain livestock. In the days before wire fencing, an effective, stock-proof hedge was essential.
Hedgelaying maintains the hedge as a living barrier, whilst promoting its rejuvenation from the base.
Even today, a well-maintained hedge is a feature of the quintessential Welsh and wider British countryside.
Different Landscapes. Different Traditions.
Different Landscapes. Different Traditions.
There is no single historic Welsh method of hedgelaying.
Techniques developed according to local landscapes, farming practices and the type of boundary being worked. Different parts of Wales developed variations in the positioning of pleachers, the use of stakes and bindings, and the construction of associated banks and ditches.
In Brecknockshire, for example, a stake-and-pleach method has been documented in which laid stems are worked between stakes and secured along the top with hazel bindings.
Elsewhere, the living hedge may form only one element of a more substantial traditional boundary incorporating earth or stone. Wales retains distinctive features including cloddiau, stone-faced banks, Pembrokeshire hedge banks and Penclawdd Walls.
Keeping the Tradition Alive
Keeping the Tradition Alive
At Renulz, traditional hedgelaying isn't about recreating the past for its own sake.
It is about using a proven countryside skill to restore living boundaries for the future — combining practical land management with biodiversity, landscape conservation and respect for Wales' rural heritage.
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