Simon English
England Revisited

On a telegraph post in a field east of Balak Farm. 4 miles N.W. of Hungerford.

On the same electricity pole some 20 yards into the field from the hedge on the southern boundary.

In 1971 the pole’s position with a brace wire so close to the hedge only allowed one pass of the plough before the tractor had to make a sharp turn into the field. At some stage since then the risk of tractor snagging the brace wire has necessitated placing a 6 foot high split post bolted onto the bottom of the wire. The spiral of rusty barbed wire is still on the brace wire. As this does not make the wire any more visible I presume that it had been placed to stop cattle rubbing before the field became arable.

Now a 5 metre strip of grass is left unploughed around the headlands as conservation strip so now the pole and brace wire is encompassed within a wider strip of grass. Other poles in the field with no brace wires stand in small islands using far less land than the pole at point 65, which appears to have been installed in 1956.

In 1971 this wheat field was one of a group of three or four. I gather that with the removal of a few hedges these are all run together as a field of over 100 acres. The view from point 65, aside from the removal of a distant hedge, is visually little changed. Some of the trees in the belts on the horizon are still recognisable. The avenue of twelve paired Limes along the drive up to the Manor at Marriage Hill to the west was seen as distinct silhouettes in 1971. Now 40 years later they are taller, more mature and beginning to touch each other.
Points 60, 65 & 68