"Plashed forest" Topic

I see that plashed forest is allowed as a field fortification for the Gallic armies in Field of Glory.

Could anyone tell me which ancient author(s) mention this?

Did the Gauls find it an effective deterrant against the Romans?

Check Caesar. IIRC there were man-made bramble obstacles in the battle against the Nervii (Gallic War, 2.17) There might also be some mention of similar things during the campaign against the Morini/ Minapii (I think) but can't remember where off hand.

It means to interweave the plant growth on the edge of the forest to create an obstacle. Likely supplemented with rope, twine and brush cut from other areas.

Interesting. I wonder how quickly it could be done?

It would probably take a few hours to cut branches, stakes, etc, and mingle them with the low branches of trees and bushes. Could go fast enough: these people were already trained to make wattle fences and wattle walls in peaceful life.

And they also could have some places (near villages, etc) where thorny plants could have been encouraged to grow that way since many years.

I've seen this done as a demonstration at an agriculture show. Two men did about 50meters between the start of show (9am) and noon (down the wood at the end of a football pitch) they were taking breaks to tell their audience what the were doing (and tea) and used nothing that was not already growing in the wood.

The final product was sheep and small boy proof and still so 3 years later. I think it would have been a fair obstacle to legionaries.

The men were drystane rs to trade so probable were not as skilled with the plashing as a Gallic warrior but much better than thee or me.

x42

Edit:- I forgot that the beep'o'matic insists on a capital D in Dykers

x42brown – I enjoyed your anecdote. I too am starting to get curious about this now.

A link to hedge plashing. The results that I saw were nowhere as neat as that but the same principle.

x42

I'm not sure you'd want to grab a few hours before a battle to start plashing but clearly, in the correct environment, it could be a widespread tactic.

thorny plants could have been encouraged to grow that way since many years

I quote myself ;-) to add one more detail:

Traditional hedgerows in Brittany are earthen banks with big trees (oak, chestnut, etc) and between these big trees were lots of smaller and thorny trees (hawthorn, blackthorn, holly, Plymouth pear tree, etc) which made a fence. It was very useful between fields before modern steel wire. Most have disappeared since the 1960s.

In her excellent novel "A Shadow of Gulls" (1977) inspired by the Ulster Cycle, writer Patricia Finney imagines that the Tuatha de Danaan are Bronze Age people and describes their village protected by hedgerows of thorny plants which make it almost impossible to find.