What Is Hedge Laying? Half-Cutting Stems So They Keep Growing Sideways
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An overgrown hedge is a line of small trees with gaps beneath it, which stops no animal. Laying it means cutting most of the way through each stem near the base, bending the living stem over almost horizontally and weaving it along the line, so it stays alive, keeps growing and thickens into a dense barrier from the ground up.
How the cut works
The essential operation is the pleach: cutting into a stem at an angle near ground level, deep enough that the stem can be bent over without splitting off, and shallow enough that a strip of living wood and bark remains connecting it to the stump. That strip carries water and nutrients, so the laid stem survives and continues to grow along its new horizontal line, sending up shoots from its length. The stump also regrows from dormant buds, filling the base. The result is a structure that is both a barrier immediately and a thickening one over the following years. The angle matters, with the cut made so that water runs off rather than sitting in the wound, and the tool is traditionally a billhook whose curved blade cuts at that angle with one stroke. Cutting through entirely kills the stem and leaves a gap, and cutting too shallowly means the stem snaps when bent, so the judgement is in how deep to go for a given stem thickness and species.
The regional styles
Laying developed into distinct regional forms, each adapted to local livestock, materials and conditions, and the differences are substantial enough to be judged competitively:
- •Midland bullock style, built with stakes in a single line and a bound top of hazel binders, faced on one side and designed to turn cattle, which is the most widely recognised form
- •Welsh border style, double-brushed so both faces look the same, with stakes and no binding
- •Devon style, laid on top of an earth bank, a form the surrounding landscape requires
- •Lancashire and Westmorland styles, which suit sheep country and different growth habits
- •Somerset, Dorset and Yorkshire variants among more than thirty recognised styles in Britain alone
- •Comparable traditions in Ireland and across parts of Europe, each with their own terms and conventions
Why it is done at all
The original purpose is stock-proofing: a laid hedge is an impenetrable living fence that requires no wire and repairs itself, and before wire fencing it was the only practical enclosure over most of the country. That economic argument is gone, since wire is far cheaper and faster. The reasons it continues are different. A hedge that is laid and then allowed to grow is rejuvenated rather than merely trimmed, which resets the cycle and prevents the gradual conversion of a hedge into a line of trees with a gappy base, extending its life indefinitely. The habitat value is substantially higher than a flailed hedge, since the dense structure provides nesting cover and the subsequent growth flowers and fruits. Agri-environment payments fund it for that reason. And it has become a competitive craft with national championships, grading schemes and a substantial amateur following, which is what has kept the regional styles and the skills documented rather than lost.
The practice
Work is done in winter, between autumn leaf fall and the start of the nesting season, when the hedge is dormant and the structure is visible. The hedge is first cleared of dead wood and unwanted growth, then laid working uphill and in one direction so the stems overlap consistently. Stakes are driven at intervals to hold the laid material, and in the styles that use them, long flexible rods called binders or heathers are woven along the top between the stakes, which ties the whole line together and holds it against livestock pushing. The cut stems are trimmed and the brash used to fill gaps. Hazel, hawthorn, blackthorn, field maple and hornbeam lay well, while some species including elder do not. The hedge is then left to grow for several years before trimming resumes, and a laid hedge is typically re-laid at intervals of a decade or more, which means a single hedge may carry the marks of laying by many generations of people.
The takeaway
Laying cuts most of the way through a stem near the ground, leaving a strip of living wood so the stem survives when bent almost horizontal, then weaves it along the line with stakes and binders. The result is an immediate barrier that thickens as the laid stems and the stumps regrow. More than thirty regional styles exist in Britain, adapted to local livestock and materials. Wire fencing removed the economic reason, and rejuvenation, habitat value and competitive craft have kept it alive.