Cwmyoy Church
- Dedicated to St. Martin Bishop of Tours in France, this is in the parish of Llanvihangel Crucorney with Oldcastle and Llanthony.
- The earliest part is 12th century, though most of the fabric is 13th century with later restoration.
- The Church is famous for being the most twisted anywhere due to the chancel and tower moving in opposite directions. The underlying geology is Old Red Sandstone and marl. Slippage and subsidence started soon after it was first built and accounts for the huge buttresses. The six bells cannot be rung.
- It is nevertheless a fascinating Church and unlikely to fall down when you visit.
- Do note the 11th-12th century Cross with a rare carving of Christ Crucified that would have been venerated by pilgrims, like yourselves, walking from Llanthony Priory to St. David's Cathedral in Pembrokeshire.
Hedge Dating
Hedge dating has had a ‘poor press' in recent years but is valid if care is taken ‐ follow the method and analysis below exactly...... It can be fun...
In many areas the numbers of different flowering shrub species are proportional to the age of the hedge. It is suggested that, on average, a 30 metre stretch of hedge acquires a new species every 100 years ‐ but this varies in different parts of the country.
Method:
Place a marker, stone or branch, on the ground by your chosen hedge.
Take 30 paces away from the marker following the line of the hedge ‐ if the hedge proves to be old / important this has to be properly measured as 30 metres but pacing is usually sufficient. Mark your end-point.
Walk back to your first marker noting every different species growing as a part of the hedge ‐ species to the side of the hedge are not relevant.
(If you are botanically-wary ‐ then simply collect leaves from the different species and check their plant identification from a book later.)
Note:
If your chosen stretch of hedge is composed of sections ‐ that is one part may have a number of different species while an adjoining part may have only one or two species. This means that you found two hedges of different composition and/or ages. The hedge with most species may have been from a field where the rest of the hedge has been removed and another hedge has been lineally grown to join it at a later date.
Analysis:
If you have one or two species then you have a 19th century enclosure hedge which often has hawthorn in it. If you have more species then:
- Your hedge may have been deliberately grown as a multi-species hedge with the different plants
harvested for different purposes. (There was a Herefordshire way and a Monmouthshire way in this area.)
This can be checked by using maps:
- you need a map (tithe and estate maps, etc.) showing the hedge as a boundary and another map without this boundary ‐ then you know your hedge was grown between these two dates.
- Your hedge may have been the edge of a field ‐ the easiest way to create a field from a wood
is to remove interior growth and leave the perimeter species to form a hedge. This is a woodland relic
hedge. This can be checked by:
- the hedge species, which are likely to be deciduous and include hazel, spindle, field maple, oak, etc.
- examining the flowers growing immediately under the hedge ‐ these will be woodland species such as dog's mercury, common primrose, bluebell, wood anemone, etc.
- examining the molluscs (snails) in the soil under the hedge as these will be woodland species.
- If your hedge has always been a boundary and does not have woodland plants then you have an old hedge. Confirmation can be obtained if it is also a parish boundary as it was there when the parish was delineated. It may also be that it is a wide hedge with a linear sunken area in the centre of the hedge ‐ this means it could be a ‘green way' or a Saxon boundary. Farmers would edge their land with a bank and outside ditch ‐ when neighbouring farmers did this then the resulting double ditch belonged to no–one and may still be present within the hedge. The hedge, as with all boundaries, has survived because it was useful and usually because each side has always had a different owner.
- Field-names can help. Look for Lower Field / Middle Field / Upper Field or similar. These record a Medieval open field which has been subsequently sub-divided. Here the perimeter hedge will have more species than the later interior hedges. Can often see a pattern of such large fields on tithe maps. Check charters and documentary evidence.
Old Hedges:
Old hedges do exist.
The shape of a hedge is important as a reversed S, or stretched C, denotes the edge of a Medieval strip, the curve being caused through turning the plough team as it approached the headland (unploughed area at end). Many such curves to be seen in Herefordshire.
Example: The Black Hedge marks the charter boundary of 903 A.D. and the later parish boundary of Monks Risborough, Buckinghamshire. It is 30 feet wide in places with the Saxon double hedge and double–ditch that is still used as a footpath. However, even at this age some sections are older than others.
References for Hedges include:
- E.Pollard, M.D.Hooper & N.W.Moore, 1974, Hedges, Collins.
- Kate Tiller, 1992, English Local History, Alan Sutton.
- The Herefordshire Field–Name Survey (general editor Ruth E. Richardson)
- see published parish booklets (copies in Herefordshire Record Office and local libraries),
- Woolhope Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club and
- Historic Herefordshire On Line at Herefordshire Through Time – Field Names & Landowners
©Ruth E. Richardson 2008