Looking back I guess I must have had quite a strange childhood given that one of my earliest memories of admiring objects is of me liking estate fencing.My new house has outside the front door some that has started to be quietly consumed by a beech tree,something I plan to leave well alone as I repair other bits and buy more for the rest of the drive.Just how long does this process of slow ingestion take? and how sturdy are these fences? I am quite sure that many modern fences would have long buckled and rusted away.....Here's to estate fencing,one of the minor beauties of the English countryside along with the long gone milk churn on wooden benches by the roadside...the feature of a future post.
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Time marches on.
Looking back I guess I must have had quite a strange childhood given that one of my earliest memories of admiring objects is of me liking estate fencing.My new house has outside the front door some that has started to be quietly consumed by a beech tree,something I plan to leave well alone as I repair other bits and buy more for the rest of the drive.Just how long does this process of slow ingestion take? and how sturdy are these fences? I am quite sure that many modern fences would have long buckled and rusted away.....Here's to estate fencing,one of the minor beauties of the English countryside along with the long gone milk churn on wooden benches by the roadside...the feature of a future post.
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6 comments:
the old rails are made of wrought iron which is nearly pure iron, modern 'wrought iron' is merely mild steel bent to shape. The metals have completely different characteristics, the old wrought iron lasts centuries, the mild steel only a few years unless very well protected against moisture...... as any car owner knows..
The ability of the tree to grow around metal fencing, nails, flints etc has caused many deaths/injuries to sawmill workers over the years as smashed band saws whip around the workspace.
I know what you mean. Whenever I see an estate wall I have an urge to walk it's full circumference, or at least look it up on the OS map and google earth when I get home.
Just back from a short holiday over in the French Alps.An inpressive part of the world looking over ranges of mountains to Mount Blanc towering in the distance.But one thing that struck me is that there is virtually no fences or barriers of any kind, everywhere is open and it is fantastic..Hope alls well..
Tim
Tim...I love mountains...all of them.As a Brit I subscribe to the 'good fences make good neighbours' school of thought.
hmm i can see myself painting this fence of yours in the near future a labourous task, one of many i think.
we need fences to keep undesirables out, such as the french.
Building or rebuilding a wall around the estate was a common means of creating paid work for estate workers in times of agricultural depression. It's good to see that Squire Thud up at the Big House has the same benevolent concern for the land and the worthy locals.
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