The hedges surveyed are shown on the overview plan:
Three sections on Denbury Down Lane, up Denbury Down,
Six sections on Doughy Lane,
Four sections on Well Lane,
Three sections on Greenhill Lane,
Two sections on the Parish Boundary, along the prison path,
Three sections on Greenhill Lane,
Two sections on Shute Lane,
One section within the village, on Damer's End drive.
An additional, later survey was made of three further sections on Denbury Down Lane, opposite the bungalows (not shown on the overview plan).
We have listed the woody plants in each section. According to the directions outlined by Dr Max Hooper, who developed the dating technique, only plants that could grow into trees or large shrubs can be included in our lists. This excludes Blackberry, Honeysuckle and other climbers.
Each section was surveyed twice; once in spring and then again in summer. This proved to be a good plan as some plants which were clearly visible in spring were hidden in the lush summer growth while others were more easily identified in full leaf and flower. We were nonetheless unsure about the identity of the Prunus species; it could be Bullace or Wild Plum. We hope to identify it positively in due course.
Using the method devised by Dr Hooper which states that the age of a hedge can be determined by the number of species growing in a thirty-yard stretch; one species for every hundred years, we can easily calculate the age of our hedges.
Damer's End drive and Shute Lane were unexpectedly young; 500 and 600 years old respectively. We suspect that both these hedges have been disturbed at some time.
The hedge along the prison path is about 750 years old; we had thought this might be a little older as this hedge follows the line of the Parish Boundary.
Well Lane is about 850 years old. This correlates well with a previous survey.
Doughy Lane is about 900 years old and we note that the oldest two sections in Doughy Lane do follow the present Parish Boundary.
On Greenhill Lane, the age of the sections, on average, was 930 years old.
Denbury Down Lane is over 1,000 years old in both areas surveyed, i.e. up Denbury Down and opposite the bungalows.
