HEDGE-ROWS OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF PLYMOUTH. PAD 
SOME REMARKS ON THE HEDGE-ROWS OF THE 
NEIGHBOURHOOD OF PLYMOUTH. 
PART I. 
BY MR. T. R. A. BRIGGS, F.L.S. 
(Read October 25th, 1877.) 
One of the aims of our Society is the investigation of subjects of a 
local character. Bearing this in mind I have put together a few 
particulars on some of the hedge-row bushes of our neighbourhood. 
A marked feature in the appearance of the country about Ply- 
mouth is due to the division of the surface into many small fields, by 
broad, and sometimes high, intersecting earthen banks, crowned with 
a thick growth of copse-like wood. In the locality these mounds 
are sometimes called hedges, though such a term should rather be 
limited to the woody fringe-like growth above. By calling the 
mounds hedge-banks, and the lines of bushes hedge-rows, we get a 
suitable term for each, and all confusion between the two is avoided. 
It is certain that many existing hedge-banks and hedge-rows 
were formed hundreds of years ago, from the references made to 
them in old title deeds of estates. In quite early times, or at least 
so soon as individual rights to land came to be established and 
acknowledged, it must have been found convenient to mark out in 
some way or other the holdings of different proprietors, for which 
purpose we cannot doubt that mounds of earth and stones would 
be frequently employed. These would also serve to shelter cattle 
and prevent their straying. For further security the addition of a 
fringe of bushes on top of the mounds might readily be made, 
formed at first perhaps of limbs of trees or branches, fixed or stuck 
along the ridge, the accidental rooting of some of which might 
suggest the subsequent formation of entire hedge-rows of living 
bushes. In connection with some particulars to be gone into 
presently, it is important for us to consider how a primitive work- 
man would set about making such a hedge-row. After he had 
