The History of Fences
Over the weekend a few of us from GreatFence.com were sitting around chatting about one of our co-worker’s new aluminum fence (she still owes us pictures!) and one of us asked where the first fence originated from. Did any one of us know the history of fences?
Surprisingly, none of us knew! (After all, we do a lot of research on fences!) However, it was funny to stop and think for a moment about the role that fences have played in history. At some point civilization progressed so much that there was a need for a barrier. When did that all happen?
Fence History Research
After some serious Google searching, we found it difficult to pinpoint the first fence per se, mainly because back in the early years, fences were built from materials that have long since rotted and withered away, (they weren’t lucky enough to have aluminum yet) but we still managed to capture a few fun facts about the earliest fences in history, their role in civilization and a little bit of knowledge about prehistoric (yes prehistoric!) humans!
Fence Facts
Thanks to our friends over at www.clearlyexplained.com (if you haven’t checked out this information packed fun site, we highly recommend it) we were able to score some fun details about early fences.
1. What Is A Fence – Really?
Seriously. Do you know the definition of fence? It’s OK, we didn’t come up with anything more than “barrier.” But a fence is so much more than that! By definition it’s actually a piece of technology. Clearly Explained defines a fence as “ a type of design technology (as it’s designed to solve a particular problem) and realised through building technology as a kind of fortification.” Read More
2. The First Fences Were A BIG Deal
Think about it – as soon as man could build a fence, he could keep livestock in (and looters out). This means our always on-the-go ancestors who were “hunter gatherers” could finally stay in one place, reign in the animals and begin the creation of villages, all of which helped start the first semblance of an economy. These ancient fences were often made out of stone or wood and have long since disappeared. Read More
3. Fences Can Be Made From The Earth
While wood and stone made for great fences for our ancestors (we highly recommend aluminum now) sometimes the fences were made directly from trees, hedges, bushes or even the earth itself, which lends itself to our favorite new fence term – the Ha-ha Fence. Read More
4. OK, Now You Have To Tell Us More About A Ha-ha Fence!
Of course, we thought you’d never ask 😉 Wikipedia describes a ha-ha fence as a “ recessed landscape design element that creates a vertical barrier while preserving views. This can be created with a wall, or back in the day, with just the earth itself. Ha-ha fences get their name from that “a-ha” moment when the fence actually is visible! Most famous example of a ha-ha fence? The one at the Washington Monument! Bet you didn’t even realize it was there! Read More
Feel a little better equipped with your fence knowledge? We certainly do! Did we miss your favorite ancient fence fact? Know some fence knowledge we can’t do without? Make sure to post in the comments below
