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116-595: South Leigh is a village in the civil parish of South Leigh and High Cogges , in the West Oxfordshire district, in Oxfordshire , England, on Limb Brook, a small tributary of the River Thames , about 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles (4 km) east of Witney . The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 336. On 1 January 2024 the parish was renamed from "South Leigh" to "South Leigh and High Cogges". South Leigh

232-513: A London borough . (Since the new county was beforehand a mixture of metropolitan boroughs , municipal boroughs and urban districts, no extant parish councils were abolished.) In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 retained rural parishes, but abolished most urban parishes, as well as the urban districts and boroughs which had administered them. Provision was made for smaller urban districts and boroughs to become successor parishes , with

348-417: A civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government . It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes , which for centuries were the principal unit of secular and religious administration in most of England and Wales. Civil and religious parishes were formally split into two types in

464-609: A coal merchant . Their niece, Dosh Murray, went to live with them in the pub in the late 1920s, and has provided some information on the Hopkins’ time there, including the fact that the pub did not serve food, though it did provide accommodation. The pub's beer came from the Garne's brewery in Burford. Albert Hopkins died in 1963, and the pub was run for a period by Joan Lee. She was succeeded by Tom Litt. After several months of renovation, during which

580-526: A ring of eight bells, all of which were cast by Mears & Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 1907. The church also has a Sanctus bell cast by an unknown founder in about 1399. John Wesley preached in South Leigh in 1771. A small Methodist congregation was established in the village by 1817, and met in private houses until it had its own chapel built in 1876. By 1968 the chapel

696-515: A Special Expense, to residents of the unparished area to fund those activities. If the district council does not opt to make a Special Expenses charge, there is an element of double taxation of residents of parished areas, because services provided to residents of the unparished area are funded by council tax paid by residents of the whole district, rather than only by residents of the unparished area. Parish councils comprise volunteer councillors who are elected to serve for four years. Decisions of

812-576: A boundary coterminous with an existing urban district or borough or, if divided by a new district boundary, as much as was comprised in a single district. There were 300 such successor parishes established. In urban areas that were considered too large to be single parishes, the parishes were simply abolished, and they became unparished areas . The distinction between types of parish was no longer made; whether parishes continued by virtue of being retained rural parishes or were created as successor parishes, they were all simply termed parishes. The 1972 act allowed

928-472: A city council (though most cities are not parishes but principal areas, or in England specifically metropolitan boroughs or non-metropolitan districts ). The chairman of a town council will have the title "town mayor" and that of a parish council which is a city will usually have the title of mayor . When a city or town has been abolished as a borough, and it is considered desirable to maintain continuity of

1044-456: A city council. According to the Department for Communities and Local Government , in England in 2011 there were 9,946 parishes. Since 1997 around 100 new civil parishes have been created, in some cases by splitting existing civil parishes, but mostly by creating new ones from unparished areas. Parish or town councils have very few statutory duties (things they are required to do by law) but have

1160-548: A city was Hereford , whose city council was merged in 1998 to form a unitary Herefordshire . The area of the city of Hereford remained unparished until 2000 when a parish council was created for the city. As another example, the charter trustees for the City of Bath make up the majority of the councillors on Bath and North East Somerset Council. Civil parishes cover 35% of England's population, with one in Greater London and few in

1276-481: A civil parish which has no parish council, the parish meeting may levy a council tax precept for expenditure relating to specific functions, powers and rights which have been conferred on it by legislation. In places where there is no civil parish ( unparished areas ), the administration of the activities normally undertaken by the parish becomes the responsibility of the district or borough council. The district council may make an additional council tax charge, known as

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1392-505: A cultural heritage and historical record and for their great value to wildlife and the landscape. Increasingly, they are valued too for the major role they have to play in preventing soil loss and reducing pollution, and for their potential to regulate water supply and to reduce flooding. There is increased earthworm diversity in the soils under hedgerows which also help to store organic carbon and support distinct communities of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. In addition to maintaining

1508-454: A definitive boundary between the two estates. The Church of England parish church of Saint James the Great began as a chapel of the parish of Stanton Harcourt, and remained so until 1868. The oldest parts of the church building date from the latter part of the 12th century. The present chancel arch was built about 1300, the tower arch was built during the 14th century and the south doorway of

1624-401: A hedge can be roughly estimated by counting the number of woody species in a thirty-yard section and multiplying by 110 years. Max Hooper published his original formula in the book Hedges in 1974. This method is only a rule of thumb, and can be off by a couple of centuries; it should always be backed up by documentary evidence, if possible, and take into account other factors. Caveats include

1740-405: A hedge where hedge laying is not appropriate. The term instant hedge has become known since early this century for hedging plants that are planted collectively in such a way as to form a mature hedge from the moment they are planted together, with a height of at least 1.2 metres. They are usually created from hedging elements or individual plants which means very few are actually hedges from

1856-476: A junior school in 1931. Declining numbers of pupils led to the school being closed down in 1946. The former school building is now the village hall . St. James' College next to the parish church was founded in 1875 as a preparatory school . By 1923 it had become an orphanage , Holyrood Hospital. The Mason Arms, a Grade II listed building which may date to the early 1700s, was named after the Mason family who were once

1972-404: A major landowner in the area. It was originally known as Ivy Farm. It seems to have started as a pub around 1879, but also continued as a dairy and wheat farm. The pub's first known landlord was Thomas Harris, who was then followed by Mark Hopkins. His son, Albert Thomas Hopkins (b.1880) and his wife Mary took over the pub in the 1920s. Hopkins ran both the pub and the farm, as well as a business as

2088-420: A managed root growth system allowing the hedge to be sold with a continuous rootstrips (rather than individual plants) which then enables year-round planting. During its circa 8-year production time, all stock should be irrigated, clipped and treated with controlled-release nutrients to optimise health. A quickset hedge is a type of hedge created by planting live whitethorn (common hawthorn) cuttings directly into

2204-517: A new code. In either case the code must comply with the Nolan Principles of Public Life . A parish can be granted city status by the Crown . As of 2020 , eight parishes in England have city status, each having a long-established Anglican cathedral: Chichester , Ely , Hereford , Lichfield , Ripon , Salisbury , Truro and Wells . The council of an ungrouped parish may pass a resolution giving

2320-431: A new smaller manor, there was a means of making a chapel which, if generating or endowed with enough funds, would generally justify foundation of a parish, with its own parish priest (and in latter centuries vestry ). This consistency was a result of canon law which prized the status quo in issues between local churches and so made boundary changes and sub-division difficult. The consistency of these boundaries until

2436-481: A number of celebrity customers and its facilities included a helipad for customers. Michael Winner is said to have called it the tackiest pub in Britain. Stonhill allowed his customers to smoke inside the pub in defiance of the ban on smoking in public buildings. In April 2008, he was successfully prosecuted and ordered to pay five separate fines and prosecution costs totalling £5,750. After Stonhill's departure in 2013,

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2552-714: A parish (a "detached part") was in a different county . In other cases, counties surrounded a whole parish meaning it was in an unconnected, "alien" county. These anomalies resulted in a highly localised difference in applicable representatives on the national level , justices of the peace , sheriffs, bailiffs with inconvenience to the inhabitants. If a parish was split then churchwardens, highway wardens and constables would also spend more time or money travelling large distances. Some parishes straddled two or more counties, such as Todmorden in Lancashire and Yorkshire. Hedge#Quickset hedge A hedge often operates as, and sometimes

2668-416: A parish council, and instead will only have a parish meeting : an example of direct democracy . Alternatively several small parishes can be grouped together and share a common parish council, or even a common parish meeting. A parish council may decide to call itself a town council, village council, community council, neighbourhood council, or if the parish has city status, the parish council may call itself

2784-431: A population in excess of 100,000 . This scope is similar to that of municipalities in continental Europe, such as the communes of France . However, unlike their continental European counterparts, parish councils are not principal authorities , and in most cases have a relatively minor role in local government. As of September 2023 , there are 10,464 parishes in England, and in 2020 they covered approximately 40% of

2900-503: A population of between 100 and 300 could request their county council to establish a parish council. Provision was also made for a grouped parish council to be established covering two or more rural parishes. In such groups, each parish retained its own parish meeting which could vote to leave the group, but otherwise the grouped parish council acted across the combined area of the parishes included. Urban civil parishes were not given their own parish councils, but were directly administered by

3016-1079: A range of discretionary powers which they may exercise voluntarily. These powers have been defined by various pieces of legislation. The role they play can vary significantly depending on the size, resources and ability of the council, but their activities can include any of the following: Parish councils have powers to provide and manage various local facilities; these can include allotments , cemeteries, parks, playgrounds, playing fields and village greens , village halls or community centres , bus shelters, street lighting, roadside verges, car parks, footpaths, litter bins and war memorials. Larger parish councils may also be involved in running markets , public toilets and public clocks, museums and leisure centres . Parish councils may spend money on various things they deem to be beneficial to their communities, such as providing grants to local community groups or local projects, or fund things such as public events, crime prevention measures, community transport schemes, traffic calming or tourism promotion. Parish councils have

3132-409: A role in the planning system; they have a statutory right to be consulted on any planning applications in their areas. They may also produce a neighbourhood plan to influence local development. The Localism Act 2011 allowed eligible parish councils to be granted a " general power of competence " which allows them within certain limits the freedom to do anything an individual can do provided it

3248-589: A set number of guardians for each parish, hence a final purpose of urban civil parishes. With the abolition of the Poor Law system in 1930, urban parishes became a geographical division only with no administrative power; that was exercised at the urban district or borough council level. In 1965 civil parishes in London were formally abolished when Greater London was created, as the legislative framework for Greater London did not make provision for any local government body below

3364-523: A single species or several, typically mixed at random. In many newly planted British hedges, at least 60 per cent of the shrubs are hawthorn , blackthorn , and (in the southwest) hazel , alone or in combination. The first two are particularly effective barriers to livestock. In North America, Maclura pomifera (i.e., hedge apple) was grown to form a barrier to exclude free-range livestock from vegetable gardens and corn fields. Other shrubs and trees used include holly , beech , oak , ash , and willow ;

3480-938: A small village or town ward to a large tract of mostly uninhabited moorland in the Cheviots, Pennines or Dartmoor. The two largest as at December 2023 are Stanhope (County Durham) at 98.6 square miles (255 km ), and Dartmoor Forest (Devon) at 79.07 square miles (204.8 km ). The two smallest are parcels of shared rural land: Lands Common to Axminster and Kilmington (Devon) at 0.012 square miles (0.031 km ; 3.1 ha; 7.7 acres), and Lands Common to Brancepeth and Brandon and Byshottles (County Durham) at 0.0165 square miles (0.043 km ; 4.3 ha; 10.6 acres). The next two smallest are parishes in built up areas: Chester Castle (Cheshire) at 0.0168 square miles (0.044 km ; 4.4 ha; 10.8 acres) (no recorded population) and Hamilton Lea (Leicestershire) at 0.07 square miles (0.18 km ; 18 ha; 45 acres) (1,021 residents at

3596-514: A spur to the creation of new parishes in some larger towns which were previously unparished, in order to retain a local tier of government; examples include Shrewsbury (2009), Salisbury (2009), Crewe (2013) and Weymouth (2019). In 2003 seven new parish councils were set up for Burton upon Trent , and in 2001 the Milton Keynes urban area became entirely parished, with ten new parishes being created. Parishes can also be abolished where there

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3712-418: Is a skilled art. In Britain there are many local hedgelaying traditions, each with a distinct style. Hedges are still being laid today not only for aesthetic and functional purposes but also for their ecological role in helping wildlife and protecting against soil erosion . An alternative to hedge laying is trimming using a tractor-mounted flail cutter or circular saw, or a hedge trimmer . The height of

3828-648: Is also possible to prepare really nice and dense hedge from other deciduous plants, however they do not have decorative flowers as the bushes mentioned before. Hedges of clipped trees forming avenues are a feature of 16th-century Italian gardens such as the Boboli Gardens in Florence , and of formal French gardens in the manner of André Le Nôtre , e.g. in the Gardens of Versailles , where they surround bosquets or areas formalized woodland. The English version of this

3944-498: Is any hedge formed of living plants or of living plants combined with a fence. The technique of quicksetting can also be used for many other shrubs and trees. A Devon hedge is an earth bank topped with shrubs. The bank may be faced with turf or stone. When stone-faced, the stones are generally placed on edge, often laid flat around gateways. A quarter of Devon 's hedges are thought to be over 800 years old. There are approximately 33,000 miles (53,000 km) of Devon hedge, which

4060-507: Is at present the only part of England where civil parishes cannot be created. If enough electors in the area of a proposed new parish (ranging from 50% in an area with less than 500 electors to 10% in one with more than 2,500) sign a petition demanding its creation, then the local district council or unitary authority must consider the proposal. Since the beginning of the 21st century, numerous parish councils have been created, including some relatively large urban ones. The main driver has been

4176-538: Is behind the Governor's Palace , Colonial Williamsburg , Virginia. Hedges and pruning can both be used to enhance a garden's privacy , as a buffer to visual pollution and to hide fences . A hedge can be aesthetically pleasing, as in a tapestry hedge, where alternate species are planted at regular intervals to present different colours or textures. In America, fences have always been more common than hedges to mark garden boundaries. The English radical William Cobbett

4292-412: Is called, a "live fence ". This may either consist of individual fence posts connected with wire or other fencing material, or it may be in the form of densely planted hedges without interconnecting wire. This is common in tropical areas where low-income farmers can demarcate properties and reduce maintenance of fence posts that otherwise deteriorate rapidly. Many other benefits can be obtained depending on

4408-468: Is controlled by the Hedgerows Regulations 1997 , administered by the local planning authority . Hedges that have existed for hundreds of years are colonised by additional species. This may be useful as a means of determining the age of the hedge. Hooper's rule (or Hooper's law, named after Dr. Max Hooper ) is based on ecological data obtained from hedges of known age, and suggests that the age of

4524-539: Is evidence that this is in response to "justified, clear and sustained local support" from the area's inhabitants. Examples are Birtley , which was abolished in 2006, and Southsea , abolished in 2010. Every civil parish has a parish meeting, which all the electors of the parish are entitled to attend. Generally a meeting is held once a year. A civil parish may have a parish council which exercises various local responsibilities prescribed by statute. Parishes with fewer than 200 electors are usually deemed too small to have

4640-551: Is more than any other county. Traditional farming throughout the county has meant that fewer Devon hedges have been removed than elsewhere. Devon hedges are particularly important for wildlife habitat. Around 20% of the UK's species-rich hedges occur within Devon. Over 600 species of flowering plants, 1500 species of insects, 65 species of birds and 20 species of mammals have been recorded living or feeding in Devon hedges. Hedge laying in Devon

4756-405: Is not prohibited by other legislation, as opposed to being limited to the powers explicitly granted to them by law. To be eligible for this, a parish council must meet certain conditions such as having a clerk with suitable qualifications. Parish councils receive funding by levying a " precept " on the council tax paid by the residents of the parish (or parishes) served by the parish council. In

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4872-420: Is usually referred to as steeping and involves cutting and laying steepers (the stems) along the top of the bank and securing them with crooks (forked sticks). A Cornish hedge is an earth bank with stones. It normally consists of large stone blocks constructed either side of a narrow earth bank, and held in place with interlocking stones. The neat rows of square stones at the top are called "edgers". The top of

4988-504: The 'Standards Board regime' with local monitoring by district, unitary or equivalent authorities. Under new regulations which came into effect in 2012 all parish councils in England are required to adopt a code of conduct with which parish councillors must comply, and to promote and maintain high standards. A new criminal offence of failing to comply with statutory requirements was introduced. More than one 'model code' has been published, and councils are free to modify an existing code or adopt

5104-1010: The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) to become the smallest geographical area for local government in rural areas. The act abolished the civil (non-ecclesiastical) duties of vestries . Parishes which straddled county boundaries or sanitary districts had to be split so that the part in each urban or rural sanitary district became a separate parish (see List of county exclaves in England and Wales 1844–1974 ). The sanitary districts were then reconstituted as urban districts and rural districts , with parishes that fell within urban districts classed as urban parishes, and parishes that fell within rural districts were classed as rural parishes. The 1894 act established elected civil parish councils as to all rural parishes with more than 300 electors, and established annual parish meetings in all rural parishes. Civil parishes were grouped to form either rural or urban districts which are thereafter classified as either type. The parish meetings for parishes with

5220-584: The Medieval field rationalisations; more originated in the industrial boom of the 18th and 19th centuries, when heaths and uplands were enclosed . Many hedgerows separating fields from lanes in the United Kingdom , Ireland and the Low Countries are estimated to have been in existence for more than seven hundred years, originating in the medieval period. The root word of 'hedge' is much older: it appears in

5336-708: The Old English language , in German ( Hecke ), and Dutch ( haag ) to mean 'enclosure', as in the name of the Dutch city The Hague , or more formally 's Gravenhage , meaning The Count 's hedge . Charles the Bald is recorded as complaining in 864, at a time when most official fortifications were constructed of wooden palisades , that some unauthorized men were constructing haies et fertés ; tightly interwoven hedges of hawthorns . In parts of Britain, early hedges were destroyed to make way for

5452-469: The United Kingdom where they link the country's fractured ancient woodland . They also serve as a habitat for birds and other animals. As the land within a few metres of hedges is difficult to plough, sow, or spray with herbicides , the land around hedges also typically includes high plant biodiversity . Hedges also serve to stabilise the soil and on slopes help prevent soil creep and leaching of minerals and plant nutrients. Removal thus weakens

5568-472: The break with Rome , parishes managed ecclesiastical matters, while the manor was the principal unit of local administration and justice. Later, the church replaced the manor court as the rural administrative centre, and levied a local tax on produce known as a tithe . In the medieval period, responsibilities such as relief of the poor passed increasingly from the lord of the manor to the parish's rector , who in practice would delegate tasks among his vestry or

5684-588: The lord of the manor , but not all were willing and able to provide, so residents would be expected to attend the church of the nearest manor with a church. Later, the churches and priests became to a greater extent the responsibility of the Catholic Church thus this was formalised; the grouping of manors into one parish was recorded, as was a manor-parish existing in its own right. Boundaries changed little, and for centuries after 1180 'froze', despite changes to manors' extents. However, by subinfeudation , making

5800-403: The monarch ). A civil parish may be equally known as and confirmed as a town, village, neighbourhood or community by resolution of its parish council, a right not conferred on other units of English local government. The governing body of a civil parish is usually an elected parish council (which can decide to call itself a town, village, community or neighbourhood council, or a city council if

5916-463: The (often well-endowed) monasteries. After the dissolution of the monasteries , the power to levy a rate to fund relief of the poor was conferred on the parish authorities by the Poor Relief Act 1601 . Both before and after this optional social change, local (vestry-administered) charities are well-documented. The parish authorities were known as vestries and consisted of all the ratepayers of

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6032-429: The 16th and early 17th centuries. Generally they were appreciated from a raised position, either the windows of a house, or a terrace . Clipped hedges above eye level may be laid out in the form of a labyrinth or garden maze . Few such mazes survived the change of fashion towards more naturalistic plantings in the 18th and 19th centuries, but many were replanted in 20th-century restorations of older gardens. An example

6148-403: The 19th century and are now entirely separate. Civil parishes in their modern form came into being through the Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73), which established elected parish councils to take on the secular functions of the parish vestry . A civil parish can range in size from a sparsely populated rural area with fewer than a hundred inhabitants, to a large town with

6264-564: The 19th century is useful to historians, and is also of cultural significance in terms of shaping local identities; reinforced by the use of grouped parish boundaries, often, by successive local authority areas; and in a very rough, operations-geared way by most postcode districts. There was (and is) wide disparity in parish size. Writtle , Essex traditionally measures 13,568 acres (21 sq mi) – two parishes neighbouring are Shellow Bowells at 469 acres (0.7 sq mi), and Chignall Smealy at 476 acres (0.7 sq mi) Until

6380-584: The 2011 census, Newland with Woodhouse Moor and Beaumont Chase reported inhabitants, and there were no new deserted parishes recorded. Nearly all instances of detached parts of civil parishes (areas not contiguous with the main part of the parish) and of those straddling counties have been ended. 14 examples remain in England as at 2022, including Barnby Moor and Wallingwells , both in Nottinghamshire. Direct predecessors of civil parishes are most often known as "ancient parishes", although many date only from

6496-505: The 2021 census). The 2001 census recorded several parishes with no inhabitants. These were Chester Castle (in the middle of Chester city centre), Newland with Woodhouse Moor , Beaumont Chase , Martinsthorpe , Meering , Stanground North (subsequently abolished), Sturston , Tottington , and Tyneham (subsequently merged). The lands of the last three were taken over by the Armed Forces during World War II and remain deserted. In

6612-480: The English landscape and valuable habitats for wildlife. Many hedgerow trees are veteran trees and therefore of great wildlife interest. The most common species are English oak ( Quercus robur ) and ash ( Fraxinus excelsior ), though in the past field elm ( Ulmus minor 'Atinia') would also have been common. Around 20 million elm trees, most of them hedgerow trees, were felled or died through Dutch elm disease in

6728-515: The English population. For historical reasons, civil parishes predominantly cover rural areas and smaller urban areas, with most larger urban areas being wholly or partly unparished ; but since 1997 it has been possible for civil parishes to be created within unparished areas if demanded by local residents . In 2007 the right to create civil parishes was extended to London boroughs , although only one, Queen's Park , has so far been created. Eight parishes also have city status (a status granted by

6844-473: The Environment , based on age and other factors. Hedgerow removal is part of the transition of arable land from low-intensity to high-intensity farming . The removal of hedgerows gives larger fields making the sowing and harvesting of crops easier, faster and cheaper, and giving a larger area to grow the crops, increasing yield and profits. Hedgerows serve as important wildlife corridors , especially in

6960-421: The action to take for a heavily over trimmed hedge, '5' is a healthy dense hedgerow more than 2 metres in height, and '10' is a hedge that has not been managed at all and has become a line of trees. The RSPB suggest that hedges in Britain not be cut between March and August. This is to protect nesting birds, which are protected by law. The techniques of coppicing and hard pollarding can be used to rejuvenate

7076-724: The administration of the poor laws was the main civil function of parishes, the Poor Law Amendment Act 1866 , which received royal assent on 10 August 1866, declared all areas that levied a separate rate or had their own overseer of the poor to be parishes. This included the Church of England parishes (until then simply known as "parishes"), extra-parochial areas , townships and chapelries . To have collected rates this means these beforehand had their own vestries, boards or equivalent bodies. Parishes using this definition subsequently became known as "civil parishes" to distinguish them from

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7192-452: The bar was located in a barn in the grounds, Litt re-opened the pub on 15 July 1964, with thirteen customers for dinner. In 1974, he opened a micro-brewery at the pub, producing 72 gallons per week of Sowlye Ale. In May 1982, Don Franks took over the pub and the micro-brewery was closed. The pub's landlord from 1995 was Gerry Stonhill. He ran it as a gastropub that was commended by Raymond Blanc and Marco Pierre White . The Mason Arms had

7308-399: The charter, the charter may be transferred to a parish council for its area. Where there is no such parish council, the district council may appoint charter trustees to whom the charter and the arms of the former borough will belong. The charter trustees (who consist of the councillor or councillors for the area of the former borough) maintain traditions such as mayoralty . An example of such

7424-455: The comedian Harry Locke and the poet Dylan Thomas . Thomas lived in the village from August 1947 to May 1949, and continued work there on Under Milk Wood . The radio journalist, Colin Edwards, came to South Leigh in the late 1970s and interviewed a number of residents about Thomas’ time amongst them. These interviews have been transcribed, edited and published. Civil parish In England,

7540-460: The commissioners awarded 1,233 acres (499 ha) to Sibthorp. South Leigh had coppices of pollarded elms to supply wood for various purposes. Between 1793 and 1795 Sibthorp had more than 3,000 trees around the estate, most of them pollarded elms, felled to make fences for the new enclosures. The Sibthorps felled large timber trees as well as wood, and early in the 19th century there were two major auctions of ash, elm and oak. Sibthorp wrote that in

7656-529: The council are carried out by a paid officer, typically known as a parish clerk. Councils may employ additional people (including bodies corporate, provided where necessary, by tender) to carry out specific tasks dictated by the council. Some councils have chosen to pay their elected members an allowance, as permitted under part 5 of the Local Authorities (Members' Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003. The number of councillors varies roughly in proportion to

7772-464: The council of the urban district or borough in which they were contained. Many urban parishes were coterminous (geographically identical) with the urban district or municipal borough in which they lay. Towns which included multiple urban parishes often consolidated the urban parishes into one. The urban parishes continued to be used as an electoral area for electing guardians to the poor law unions . The unions took in areas in multiple parishes and had

7888-466: The council will an election be held. However, sometimes there are fewer candidates than seats. When this happens, the vacant seats have to be filled by co-option by the council. If a vacancy arises for a seat mid-term, an election is only held if a certain number (usually ten) of parish residents request an election. Otherwise the council will co-opt someone to be the replacement councillor. The Localism Act 2011 introduced new arrangements which replaced

8004-511: The creation of town and parish councils is encouraged in unparished areas . The Local Government and Rating Act 1997 created a procedure which gave residents in unparished areas the right to demand that a new parish and parish council be created. This right was extended to London boroughs by the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 – with this, the City of London

8120-407: The cutting can be increased a little every year. Trimming a hedge helps to promote bushy growth. If a flail cutter is used, then the flail must be kept sharp to ensure that the cutting is effective on the hedge. The disadvantage of this is that the hedge species takes a number of years before it will flower again and subsequently bear fruit for wildlife and people. If the hedge is trimmed repeatedly at

8236-463: The desire to have a more local tier of government when new larger authorities have been created, which are felt to be remote from local concerns and identity. A number of parishes have been created in places which used to have their own borough or district council; examples include Daventry (2003), Folkestone (2004), Kidderminster (2015) and Sutton Coldfield (2016). The trend towards the creation of geographically large unitary authorities has been

8352-568: The development of traditional skills and works with Cornwall Council , FWAG (Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group), Stone Academy Bodmin, Cornwall AONB, Country Trust and professional hedgers to ensure the future of Cornish Hedges in the landscape. Hedges, both clipped and unclipped, are often used as ornament in the layout of gardens . Typical woody plants for clipped hedges include privet , hawthorn , beech , yew , leyland cypress , hemlock , arborvitae , barberry , box , holly , oleander , lavender , among others. An early 20th-century fashion

8468-399: The distances should vary so as to create a more natural landscape. The distance allows the young trees to develop full crowns without competing or producing too much shade. It is suggested that hedgerow trees cause gaps in hedges but it has been found that cutting some lower branches off lets sufficient light through to the hedge below to allow it to grow. Hedges are recognised as part of

8584-459: The earth (hazel does not sprout from cuttings). Once planted, these cuttings root and form new plants, creating a dense barrier. The technique is ancient, and the term quickset hedge is first recorded in 1484. The word quick in the name refers to the fact that the cuttings are living (as in " the quick and the dead "), and not to the speed at which the hedge grows, although it will establish quite rapidly. An alternative meaning of quickset hedging

8700-439: The ecclesiastical parishes. The Church of England parishes, which cover more than 99% of England, have become officially (and to avoid ambiguity) termed ecclesiastical parishes . The limits of many of these have diverged; most greatly through changes in population and church attendance (these factors can cause churches to be opened or closed). Since 1921, each has been the responsibility of its own parochial church council . In

8816-550: The effects of tree roots, burrowing rabbits, rain, wind, farm animals and people. How often repairs are needed depends on how well the hedge was built, its stone, and what has happened to it since it was last repaired. Typically a hedge needs a cycle of repair every 150 years or so, or less often if it is fenced. Building new hedges, and repairing existing hedges, is a skilled craft, and there are professional hedgers in Cornwall. The Cornish Hedge Research and Education Group (CHREG) supports

8932-434: The environmental impact of farming features more highly and in many places hedgerow conservation and replanting is taking place. In England and Wales agricultural hedgerow removal is controlled by the Hedgerows Regulations 1997 , administered by the local planning authority . If hedges are not maintained and trimmed regularly, gaps tend to form at the base over many years. In essence, hedgelaying consists of cutting most of

9048-521: The established English Church, which for a few years after Henry VIII alternated between the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England , before settling on the latter on the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558. By the 18th century, religious membership was becoming more fractured in some places, due in part to the progress of Methodism . The legitimacy of the parish vestry came into question, and

9164-473: The fact that planted hedgerows, hedgerows with elm , and hedgerows in the north of England tend not to follow the rule as closely. The formula also does not work on hedges more than a thousand years old. Hooper's scheme is important not least for its potential use in determining what an important hedgerow is, given their protection in The Hedgerows Regulations (1997; No. 1160) of the Department of

9280-409: The first ten months after the enclosure award: I have worked up between 2000 and 3000 trees to posts and rails for my enclosure, besides a great quantity of timber used in the general repair of the farmhouses and cottage. I have quicked near upon 100 furlongs and fenced with posts and rails one-half of it. Gates and gateposts on the enclosures. I had three teams of horses constantly employed during

9396-446: The gardens and meadows and fields, in the neighbourhood of New York and other cities and towns, were divided by quick-set hedges, what a difference would the alteration make in the look, and in the real value too, of those gardens, meadows and fields! In the US, some local jurisdictions may strictly regulate the placement or height of a hedge, such as the case where a Palo Alto city resident

9512-455: The government at the time of the Local Government Act 1972 discouraged their creation for large towns or their suburbs, but there is generally nothing to stop their establishment. For example, Birmingham has two parishes ( New Frankley and Sutton Coldfield ), Oxford has four, and the Milton Keynes urban area has 24. Parishes could not however be established in London until the law was changed in 2007. A civil parish can range in area from

9628-441: The health of the environment, hedgerows also play a huge role in providing shelter for smaller animals like birds and insects. A recent study by Emma Coulthard mentioned the possibility that hedgerows may act as guides for moths, like Acronicta rumicis , when flying from one location to another. As moths are nocturnal, it is highly unlikely that they use visual aids as guides, but rather are following sensory or olfactory markers on

9744-472: The hedge is planted with grass turf. Sometimes hedging plants or trees are planted on the hedge to increase its windbreaking height. A rich flora develops over the lifespan of a Cornish hedge. The Cornish hedge contributes to the distinctive field-pattern of the Cornish landscape and its semi-natural wildlife habitat. There are about 30,000 miles (48,000 km) of hedges in Cornwall today. Hedges suffer from

9860-402: The hedgerows. Larkin et al. 2013 find 100% of northwest European farms have hedges, providing 43% of the wildlife habitat there. Historically, hedges were used as a source of firewood, and for providing shelter from wind, rain and sun for crops, farm animals and people. Today, mature hedges' uses include screening unsightly developments. In England and Wales agricultural hedgerow removal

9976-587: The last three can become very tall. Of the hedgerows in the Normandy region of France, Martin Blumenson said The hedgerow is a fence, half earth, half hedge. The wall at the base is a dirt parapet that varies in thickness from one to four or more feet and in height from three to twelve feet. Growing out of the wall is a hedge of hawthorn, brambles, vines, and trees, in thickness from one to three feet. Originally property demarcations, hedgerows protect crops and cattle from

10092-510: The late 1960s. Many other species are used, notably including common beech ( Fagus sylvatica ) and various nut and fruit trees . The age structure of British hedgerow trees is old because the number of new trees is not sufficient to replace the number of trees that are lost through age or disease. New trees can be established by planting but it is generally more successful to leave standard trees behind when laying hedges. Trees should be left at no closer than 10 metres (33 ft) apart and

10208-471: The late 19th century, most of the "ancient" (a legal term equivalent to time immemorial ) irregularities inherited by the civil parish system were cleaned up, and the majority of exclaves were abolished. The census of 1911 noted that 8,322 (58%) of "parishes" in England and Wales were not geographically identical when comparing the civil to the ecclesiastical form. In 1894, civil parishes were reformed by

10324-533: The manorial open-field system . Many were replaced after the Enclosure Acts , then removed again during modern agricultural intensification, and now some are being replanted for wildlife. As of 2024 in a study using Lidar by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology England alone was found to have a total of 390,000 km of hedgerows, which would span the circumference of the earth 10 times. A hedge may consist of

10440-465: The mid 19th century. Using a longer historical lens the better terms are "pre-separation (civil and ecclesiastical) parish", "original medieval parishes" and "new parishes". The Victoria County History , a landmark collaborative work mostly written in the 20th century (although incomplete), summarises the history of each English "parish", roughly meaning late medieval parish. A minority of these had exclaves , which could be: In some cases an exclave of

10556-433: The nave dates from about 1400. The church building was extensively altered in the 15th century: the north aisle and chapel were added, the bell tower was completed, and new windows were inserted in the south and east walls of the chancel. In 1871–72 the architect Ewan Christian restored the chancel and C. C. Rolfe began restoring the nave . Rolfe's cousin H. W. Moore completed the nave restoration in 1887–88. During

10672-465: The new district councils (outside London) to review their parishes, and many areas left unparished in 1972 have since been made parishes, either in whole or part. For example, Hinckley , whilst entirely unparished in 1974, now has four civil parishes, which together cover part of its area, whilst the central part of the town remains unparished. Some parishes were sub-divided into smaller territories known as hamlets , tithings or townships . Nowadays

10788-848: The ocean winds that sweep across the land. The hedgerows of Normandy became barriers that slowed the advance of Allied troops following the D-Day invasion during World War II. Allied armed forces modified their armored vehicles to facilitate breaking out of their beachheads into the Normandy bocage . Formal, or modern garden hedges are grown in many varieties, including the following species: Hedgerow trees are trees that grow in hedgerows but have been allowed to reach their full height and width. There are thought to be around 1.8 million hedgerow trees in Britain (counting only those whose canopies do not touch others) with perhaps 98% of these being in England and Wales. Hedgerow trees are both an important part of

10904-488: The other conurbations. Civil parishes vary greatly in population: some have populations below 100 and have no settlement larger than a hamlet , while others cover towns with populations of tens of thousands. Weston-super-Mare , with a population of 71,758, is the most populous civil parish. In many cases small settlements, today popularly termed villages , localities or suburbs, are in a single parish which originally had one church. Large urban areas are mostly unparished, as

11020-448: The parish has city status). Alternatively, in parishes with small populations (typically fewer than 150 electors) governance may be by a parish meeting which all electors may attend; alternatively, parishes with small populations may be grouped with one or more neighbours under a common parish council. Wales was also divided into civil parishes until 1974, when they were replaced by communities , which are similar to English parishes in

11136-401: The parish the status of a town, at which point the council becomes a town council . Around 400 parish councils are called town councils. Under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 , a civil parish may be given one of the following alternative styles: As a result, a parish council can be called a town council, a community council, a village council or occasionally

11252-404: The parish. As the number of ratepayers of some parishes grew, it became increasingly difficult to convene meetings as an open vestry. In some, mostly built-up, areas the select vestry took over responsibility from the entire body of ratepayers. This innovation improved efficiency, but allowed governance by a self-perpetuating elite. The administration of the parish system relied on the monopoly of

11368-562: The parish; the church rate ceased to be levied in many parishes and became voluntary from 1868. During the 17th century it was found that the 1601 Poor Law did not work well for very large parishes, which were particularly common in northern England. Such parishes were typically subdivided into multiple townships , which levied their rates separately. The Poor Relief Act 1662 therefore directed that for poor law purposes 'parish' meant any place which maintained its own poor, thereby converting many townships into separate 'poor law parishes'. As

11484-499: The perceived inefficiency and corruption inherent in the system became a source for concern in some places. For this reason, during the early 19th century the parish progressively lost its powers to ad hoc boards and other organisations, such as the boards of guardians given responsibility for poor relief through the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 . Sanitary districts covered England in 1875 and Ireland three years later. The replacement boards were each entitled to levy their own rate in

11600-411: The population of the parish. Most rural parish councillors are elected to represent the entire parish, though in parishes with larger populations or those that cover larger areas, the parish can be divided into wards. Each of these wards then returns councillors to the parish council (the numbers depending on their population). Only if there are more candidates standing for election than there are seats on

11716-472: The pub was bought by a property developer and lay empty for a number of years. In 2015, it was listed as an asset of community value under the Localism Act 2011 . The Mason Arms was subsequently bought by Justin and Charlotte Salisbury, and re-opened in 2017 as one of their Artist-in-Residence boutique hotels. South Leigh has had a number of celebrity residents, including the entrepreneur Richard Branson ,

11832-476: The restoration extensive 15th century wall paintings were discovered. They include a Doom painting over the chancel arch, the seven deadly sins , Saint Michael weighing souls, the Virgin Mary (originally part of an Annunciation scene) and a rare painting of Saint Clement . Burlison and Grylls heavily restored the paintings, re-drawing the weighing of souls at twice its original size. St. James' tower has

11948-511: The same height, a 'hard knuckle' will start to form at that height – similar to the shape of a pollarded tree. Additionally, hedge trimming causes habitat destruction to species like the small eggar moth which spend nearly their entire life cycle in blackthorn and hawthorn hedgerow. This has led to a decline in the moth's population. It is now nationally scarce in Britain. A 'hedgerow management' scale has been devised by an organisation called Hedgelink UK ranging from 1 to 10. '1' describes

12064-639: The soil and leads to erosion. In the United Kingdom hedgerow removal has been occurring since World War I as technology made intensive farming possible, and the increasing population demanded more food from the land. The trend has slowed down somewhat since the 1980s when cheap food imports reduced the demand on British farmland, and as the European Union Common Agricultural Policy made environmental projects financially viable. Under reforms to national and EU agricultural policies,

12180-583: The species chosen. The development of hedges over the centuries is preserved in their structure. The first hedges enclosed land for cereal crops during the Neolithic Age (4000–6000 years ago). The farms were of about 5 to 10 hectares (12 to 25 acres), with fields about 0.1 hectares (0.25 acres) for hand cultivation. Some hedges date from the Bronze and Iron Ages , 2000–4000 years ago, when traditional patterns of landscape became established. Others were built during

12296-833: The start, as the plants need time to grow and entwine to form a real hedge. An example of an instant hedge can be seen at the Elveden Hall Estate in East Anglia, where fields of hedges can be seen growing in cultivated rows, since 1998. The development of this type of mature hedge has led to such products being specified by landscape architects, garden designers, property developers, insurance companies, sports clubs, schools and local councils, as well as many private home owners. Demand has also increased from planning authorities in specifying to developers that mature hedges are planted rather than just whips (a slender, unbranched shoot or plant). A 'real' instant hedge could be defined as having

12412-401: The summer, yet unequal to my work. The Witney Railway was built through the parish and opened in 1861. South Leigh railway station served the parish until 1962, when British Railways withdrew passenger services from the line. BR closed the line to freight traffic in 1970 and the track was dismantled sometime thereafter. St. James' National School was built in 1871 and was reorganised as

12528-445: The two. When Stanton Harcourt's common lands were being enclosed in 1773, its enclosure commissioners suggested promoting a single Parliamentary bill to enclose both estates. Edward Gore and his tenants in South Leigh disagreed due to the unresolved boundary disputes and consequent disagreement over what lands would be allotted to whom under the enclosure award. Instead Stanton Harcourt's enclosure commissioners were empowered to settle

12644-644: The way they operate. Civil parishes in Scotland were abolished for local government purposes by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 ; the Scottish equivalent of English civil parishes are the community council areas established by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 , which have fewer powers than their English and Welsh counterparts. There are no equivalent units in Northern Ireland . The parish system in Europe

12760-426: The way through the stem of each plant near the base, bending it over and interweaving or pleaching it between wooden stakes. This also encourages new growth from the base of each plant. Originally, the main purpose of hedgelaying was to ensure the hedge remained stock-proof. Some side branches were also removed and used as firewood. The maintenance and laying of hedges to form an impenetrable barrier for farm animals

12876-474: Was already complaining about this in 1819: And why should America not possess this most beautiful and useful plant [the Haw-Thorn ]? She has English gew-gaws, English Play-Actors, English Cards and English Dice and Billiards; English fooleries and English vices enough in all conscience; and why not English Hedges, instead of post-and-rail and board fences? If, instead of these steril-looking and cheerless enclosures

12992-491: Was established between the 8th and 12th centuries, and an early form was long established in England by the time of the Norman Conquest . These areas were originally based on the territory of manors , which, in some cases, derived their bounds from Roman or Iron Age estates; some large manors were sub-divided into several parishes. Initially, churches and their priests were the gift and continued patronage (benefaction) of

13108-631: Was for tapestry hedges , using a mix of golden, green and glaucous dwarf conifers , or beech and copper beech. Unclipped hedges take up more space, generally at a premium in modern gardens, but compensate by flowering. Rosa multiflora is widely used as a dense hedge along the central reservation of dual-carriageway roads , such as parkways in the United States. In mild climates , more exotic flowering hedges are formed, using Ceanothus , Hibiscus , Camellia , orange jessamine ( Murraya paniculata ), [1] or lillypilly ( Syzygium species). It

13224-543: Was not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, but was recorded in 1190 as Stanton Lega . The manor house was built in the second half of the 16th century. It is now called Church Farm House. In the middle of the 17th century William Gore acquired the manor. The Gores consolidated South Leigh as a separate estate within Stanton Harcourt parish, but this led to a series of disputes over landholdings intermixed between

13340-588: Was the wilderness , normal in large gardens until the English landscape garden style and the rise of the shrubbery began to sweep them away from about 1750. The 'hedge on stilts' of clipped hornbeams at Hidcote Manor Garden , Gloucestershire , is famous and has sometimes been imitated; it is fact a standard French and Italian style of the bosquet. Hedges below knee height are generally thought of as borders. Elaborately shaped and interlaced borders forming knot gardens or parterres were fashionable in Europe during

13456-459: Was used for worship only once a month, and in 1969 it was sold. It is now a private house. Sometime after 1773 the Gores sold South Leigh estate to John Sibthorp. In 1792, a generation after Stanton Harcourt's enclosure, two thirds of South Leigh's land remained unenclosed. Sibthorp obtained an Act of Parliament that led to their enclosure in 1793. About 1,663 acres (673 ha) were enclosed, of which

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