Hedges and walls Book

-- Revealing accounts of the social history of hedges and walls, and of their use as historical documents -- One of two titles launching the National Trust's new series Living Landscapes.Britain has many of the finest ancient hedgerows in the world, some of them dating back thousands of years. Together with other boundaries such as field walls, ditches and dykes, they are one of our richest social and natural resources, but exactly how well do we know them? This book sets out to explore and explain how our traditional hedges and boundaries were created and maintained, which birds, plants, animals and insects are associated with them, and how man's involvement is crucial to the continued survival of these fascinating landscape features. With changes in agriculture and the decline of traditional craftsmen such as hedge-layers and dry-stone wallers, these precious habitats have come under real pressure. However, renewed interest in historic management and popular concern over the fate of hedgerows in particular, offer new hope for the survival of both the wildlife and the landscapes themselves.