Fencing: Past, Present & Future

The recent storms that have battered the UK with strong winds and heavy rainfall have been responsible for lots of structural damage. As much of this damage has been caused to fences, these structures are on everybody's mind at the moment and so this blog article looks in more detail at the history of the humble fence.

Though fencing dates back for millennia, the basic ideas, processes and materials used remain largely unchanged to this day. Fences were (and still in many ways are) used as a form of defence, and were erected to surround villages and prevent attacks from people in other areas.

Fences were one of the most influential steps in creating the concept of 'private property', creating a physical, highly visible boundary. Previously, land disputes were extremely complicated: fences made things much less confused and created a collective acceptance of personal space.

As well as keeping intruders out, fences were used to contain livestock: this was of immeasurable importance as agriculture developed into such a dominant force. Defining land and incontestably showing farmers where they could and couldn't graze livestock or grow crops, fences became more and more important to life as we know it today.<

Fences today come in every shape and size, from the tiniest one that surrounds a private garden to huge municipal, industrial and commercial examples. The longest fence in the world  stretches for a massive 3,437 miles (5,531 kilometres) across Australia and encloses the country's major sheep-raising area, protecting the livestock from dingoes (wild dogs).

Greengate's, your local builders merchant, supplies an extensive range of fencing materials, including panels, posts, spikes, clips and post anchors. Check out the full range on our website.