Short back and sides for a record breaking yew hedge
I’ve gone for decades without seeing the giant yew hedge in Cirencester, Gloucestershire being clipped, but this year and last year I spotted the operation underway as I wandered through my home town.
Planted in 1720 in Earl Bathurst's Park, the 510 feet long hedge is 43 feet high and 15 feet wide at the base. It’s an impressive sight, easily spotted not far from the centre of the town, and it holds the record for the highest yew hedge in the world.
Pre-mechanisation it was clipped laboriously with hand tools from long ladders, a practice that continued up until the 1950’s. A search through the internet brings up numerous wonderful historic images of gardeners leaning out precariously to clip the hedge from tall wooden ladders. These days, as can be seen in the accompanying picture a motorised cherry picker is used along with battery powered shears.
Good use was originally made of the clippings which were sent off to be used in the production of the anti-cancer drug taxol but modern technology now enables the drug to be produced synthetically in tanks using a method of cell fermentation.
By my calculations the hedge has been clipped over 300 times and will hopefully receive the attention for many more centuries to come.
