Bricks in HAMPSHIRE

Bricks for the borders

Whether it be a low level border in the garden or a raised flower bed, bricks can turn your garden into a real work of art.

For the simple border edging, bricks laid on the slant and stacked against the next can look really effective. They are superb for preventing the grass from encroaching onto the border soil too.

Having a hard border made from bricks even adds another dimension to your garden, breaking
the monotony that would be there without them.

Bricks are also fantastic at keeping the various soil toppings in place too. No more bark chippings being blown or strewn over your lawn when the local cat makes use of your border. Slate chippings and the different types of shingle look neater and can be laid deeper too if a border of bricks is laid correctly. This has the added benefit of preventing water from evaporating from the soil as quickly on hot summers day, helping the plants regulate their liquid intake.

Even garden pests such as weeds and some root damaging larvae can have a much harder time getting a foothold when bricks are retaining a good covering of chippings.

Bricks for the raised beds

With raised flower beds you can really let your creativity run wild. Wooden sleepers also look great, but they do eventually rot and can become slippery when wet. Unlike bricks, getting good sleepers can be tricky and pretty expensive as the better types are the old ones from railway lines, with new ones often being made of softwood and expensive.

Bricks can be laid in a number of different patterns and with the many different styles, textures and colours available, bricks can improve the look of your garden considerably.

Raised borders and flower beds constructed with bricks also help the elderly and disabled continue to tend their plants that would otherwise have been too low to manage.

Raised borders made with bricks will also offer a large surface area for you and your visitors to take the weight off your feet anywhere in the garden. Perched on the raised borders bricks, reading a book and enjoying a glass of wine on a warm day, whilst being close to the scent of your favourite flowers, what could be nicer?

Historic Hampshire

Hampshire, which is frequently abbreviated to Hants is a wonderfully historic county in South East England on the coast of the English Channel. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, but the county is named after Southampton. Its two largest cities are Southampton and Portsmouth which are administered separately as unitary authorities; the rest of the county is governed by a combination of Hampshire County Council and Non-metropolitan district councils.

The Romans in Hampshire

The Hampshire region was first settled about 14,000 years ago. Hampshire’s recorded history dates back to Roman Britain, when its chief town was Winchester, at the time known as Venta Belgarum. Hampshire was recorded in the 11th century Domesday Book, divided into forty four hundreds.

The hundred in Hampshire

The origin of the division of counties into hundreds is quite obscure. It may once have referred to an area of 100 hides. In the early Anglo-Saxon period a hide was the amount of land farmed by and required to support a peasant family, in short, about 120 acres, but by the eleventh century in many areas it supported four families. Alternatively the hundred may have been an area originally settled by one “hundred” men at arms, or the area liable to provide one hundred men under arms. It should also be noted that in earlier times the term hundred can itself be unclear, meaning the short hundred, meaning 100 or the long hundred of 120.

Population in Hampshire then and now

Today the population of Hampshire stands at around 1,644,249. In Anglo-Saxon times, the population would have been considerably smaller. When you consider that one family would expect to inhabit and farm one hide, which equates to 120 acres. When one considered that one acre is the equivalent to sixteen tennis courts, one family would have 120 of these units of land, clearly far more than is afforded to the residents of modern day Hampshire.