Woven hurdles have been used by farmers for centuries, the instant barrier to create a pen, block a gateway or provide shelter for animals. Sadly this sustainable method has gone the way of many rural crafts and been replaced by lightweight aluminium barriers.
There are still a few people who know how to create them, but the applications have changed. Instead of portable hurdles for farmers, the vast majority of the market is for fixed hurdles in gardens as windbreaks or attractive natural fences. These days they need to be able to withstand rampant sweet peas as opposed to determined sheep.
I was lucky to take part in a hurdle-making course arranged by Meirionnydd Oakwoods Habitat Management, an EU-funded project to regenerate and conserve the Atlantic oakwoods.
Atlantic oakwoods are so called because they are on the edge of the Atlantic and bathed in the warm and moist air from the gulf-stream which provides a unique growing environment. The European coast from Scotland to Portugal used to be covered in such woods, but today there is very little left and the best in the world is in Meirionnydd.
The big picture is to salvage and conserve these Atlantic oakwoods. This is not a one-off chainsaw job cutting out conifers and revealing ancient oaks. There's a whole lot more and one aspect is to shift our understanding and perception. To turn the clock back and get people back into the woods, not just for picnics and walks, but also to work the woods and practise the woodland crafts such as making charcoal, besoms (witches brooms) and hurdles.
We drove to some woods where recent forestry works have revealed a couple of ornamental ponds from Victorian times, with stunning views across the Mawddach Estuary. Our job is to create some hurdles beside the ponds as a backdrop for a picnic area. (Will the next course be rustic picnic tables?)
There are several different designs, but the one we made, bearing in mind our hurdle would not be portable, used substantial timbers at the top and bottom. For these we scavenged some birch tree trunks about three or four inches thick and cut them into six foot lengths. These were then drilled with five equi-distant holes of one inch diameter.
Meanwhile the straightest bits of hazel we could find were cut into six foot lengths and pointed. First of all a draw knife was used to trim the ends to fit into the round planer. This was then used, a bit like a giant's pencil sharpener, to create a perfect cylinder of wood to fit the holes drilled in the birch.
Five lengths of hazel were slotted into the bottom birch and the crossbar piece was attached. This required a little bit of encouragement from the rustic hammer, a perfect woodland tool, cheap and easy to make, and when it breaks you've got a log for your fire.
The frame was then put in place attached to an oak post at either end and the weaving began. We used whatever we could find lying on the ground. Old conifer worked well, birch was a bit brittle, rhododendron was OK. These were threaded between the five upright hazels putting the thick end in from alternate directions.
It was beginning to look like a woven hurdle, but the design included a window which meant the threads would not have the pressure of five uprights to keep them in place. For these more challenging sections we used freshly cut willow stems which were flexible enough to be wound round the poles.
Once the hurdle was fully woven we secured it to the posts making sure it was clear of the ground. Keeping the hurdle out of the wet earth gives it a much longer life. The loose ends were trimmed off and a few stems of willow planted at the base to give it a life of its own.
Our next hurdles were quicker to build, not just because we knew what we were doing, but more because of the impromptu competition among rival gangs. Children of the woods!
You can buy a woven hurdle from a garden centre - £68 should get you a six-foot square hurdle, but it's much more fun to build your own.
Huw Jenkins
Huw's photos of the hurdle-making.
