The Inventory Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) in the Netherlands contains ICH of which the communities, groups or individuals involved have written a safeguarding plan. Those plans are reviewed by an independent review committee. Every three years an evaluation of the safeguarding takes place.

Description

Meuse hedge laying is traditionally a way to make hedges cattle-proof. The Meuse hedge style is characterised by the use of living material only, preferably hawthorn, that is present in the hedge. In this way the hedge becomes stronger and tighter over de years. Meuse hedge layers only use hand tools and only work in the winter period. Hedges in this style are mainly woven in ‘the high Netherlands’ (the provinces of North-Brabant and Limburg). When the stems of the hedge are as thick as a wrist, the hedge is ready to be laid. The first thing to do is to radically prune the hedge, so that the hedge layer can reach the branches. The hedge layer uses so-called pleachers and stakes. The pleachers are sawn obliquely with a pruning saw or, for the trained hedge layers, a traditional hiep (pruning knife). The connection with the sap stream (a piece of bark and wood) should be at least 0.6 inch and may not be broken. The cut-in pleacher is bent at an angle of 80 degrees and woven between the stakes. Every other forty inches there will be a stake and they are sawn in and woven at a height of between 47 and 51 inches.

 

 

Community

The community of Meuse hedge layers consists primarily of the (volunteer) hedge layers themselves. The group endeavours to make the craft interesting for young people as well, through the National Meuse hedge Laying Championship, for instance. Various organisations are active, like the Stichting Vlechtheggen (Hedge Laying Foundation), the Brabant Farmhouse Foundation, The Boxmeer Landscape Management Foundation and the Roois Landscape Foundation. Of course, the landowners are important also.

 

 

History

Hedge laying as livestock fences is an old phenomenon that has been practiced for ages already in the Netherlands. The hedges also had a function in firewood provision. Around 1900 there was a network of many miles of hedges and natural wooden fences around fields and meadows. Farmers wove the hedges, sometimes as an extra source of income. When the barbed wire was introduced at the beginning of the twentieth century, the hedges lost their function as livestock fences. With the disappearance of hedges, the craft disappeared from sight as well. The knowledge stayed in the heads of some farmers and in a single case a farmer layed a piece of hedge, to show how things worked in the past. In 1990 IVN The Maas Valley layed a piece of hedge along a footpath in Vortum Mullem, together with an old farmer from Boxmeer. At the beginning of the twenty-first century the craft was picked up again around the floodplains of the Meuse near Cuijk, Gennep and Boxmeer. At the instruction of old farmers and by their information, the craft could be revived. Since a couple of years the number of Meuse hedge layers has been growing again. There are training courses to learn the technique and new hedges are planted. Through the National Championship Meuse Hedge Laying the tradition is passed on competition wise.

 

 

Contact

Stichting Vlechtheggen Zuid Nederland
Overambt 18
5821CE
Vierlingsbeek
Website