The last living Jacobites, or, when the English steal your hedge trimmer…For half a kilom

The last living Jacobites, or, when the English steal your hedge trimmer…For half a kilometer along the busy Perth-to-Blairgowrie road, the light is blotted out by a dense screen of beech trees. At 30 m high, this is the tallest hedge in the world.The Meikleour (MEEK-loor) beech hedge was planted in 1745, when tensions between England and Scotland were at their height. The unpopular Act of Union was barely 40 years old, and many Scots viewed the exiled heirs to the Stuart dynasty as rightful kings whose place had been usurped. These tensions came to a head in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 (‘the Forty-Five’), in which the Jacobite army advanced to within a few days of London before the commanders’ courage failed and they made the mistaken decision to retreat. Five months later the rising was crushed completely at Culloden.It is widely believed that the trees of the hedge were planted by men who then left to fight in the rebellion. They never returned, and the hedge they had started was allowed to grow tall in their memory.Today the hedge is trimmed every ten years, an operation that takes four men six weeks to complete. Its edible nuts provide food for small animals in winter, and as beech trees commonly retain some of their leaves it also offers shelter to birds.Since beeches can live for hundreds of years, it is likely that the Jacobites’ memorial will be standing for some time yet to come.LithopsImage credits: Sandy Stevensonhttps://flic.kr/p/aWkMQpSources:http://bit.ly/1U0aD3uhttp://bit.ly/1U8vIYaBeech trees: http://bit.ly/1R1evL4Jacobite rebellion: http://www.nts.org.uk/Culloden/PPF/ -- source link

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