Readers have sent in a few great links lately, and they’re good enough that I’ll bother you with them.
WeggieBoy sent a link to this surprisingly short, clear explanation of the British flag and how it came into being. As a bonus, if you stick around after it ends, you get a fast-talking explanation of the differences between England, Britain, the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies, and much more. You won’t remember it all, but some bits and pieces may stick to your brain. And if not–well, I’m going to assume that anyone who reads much Notes for long enjoys accurate confusion, so enjoy this. You have to love a country that can’t ever stop explaining what it’s called.
In response to the post about English hedges, Mick Canning sent a link to Atlas Obscura‘s entry on the 1,100-mile hedge that Britain built to divide India so it could impose a tax on salt. It’s a great tale of imperial over-reaching, complete with smugglers, fire, rats, and cats. It’s short and well worth a read.
And finally, Bill Roberts sent in some information about Cornish hedges that I’ve added to the hedge post, but if you read it when it first came out you will have missed it. So here it is–complete with a link, as promised in the title:
“There is a unique distinction between a Cornish hedge and a dry stone wall. Where the dry stone wall is as it says, a wall made of a single course of stones without mortar, usually seen in the northern counties of England, a Cornish hedge is completely different. It is built in two halves, with an earth core. It is wide at the base tapering as it rises to about 1.2 metres with a concave profile each side called a Batter. It supports the structure like an arch supports a bridge. The stones are laid sloping into the centre. The top of the structure is usually covered in earth and planted with hedging plants like blackthorn, or hawthorn to increase the height, which are ‘laid’ like a conventional hedge. There are examples still in use that date back to the bronze age, and Cornish hedges are supposedly the oldest man-made structures in the world still being used for their original purpose.”
For more information about Cornish hedges, see the Guild of Cornish Hedgers website.
Notes from the U.K. 
Thank you for sending me to Cornish Hedges. I’d forgotten how lovely they are.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It really is a pleasure.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I cherish the education I get here.
LikeLiked by 2 people
That’s a truly lovely thing to say.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You make history fun.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hooray for the Cornish Hedges! And props to you for the link.
LikeLiked by 1 person
They are amazing things, those Cornish hedges.
LikeLike
saved to read later…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I do that a lot with links. Sometimes it takes multiple weeks to get back to them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love the hedges and have to read your hedge post
Watched that video and this that it linked to https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_119206&feature=iv&index=1&list=PLqs5ohhass_TF9mg-mqLie7Fqq1-FzOQc&src_vid=WVZQapdkwLo&v=rNu8XDBSn10.
Gosh, the guy talks fast. I’ve a headache from him :).
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll check out the link when life settles down a bit.
LikeLike
It was a link on the link you shared so you probably already saw it.
Hope life settles down soon…
LikeLiked by 1 person
It should. I’m busy coming down with a miserable cold, I think, and would like to dedicate a few days to feeling sorry for myself. Unfortunately, I promised to help move a few carloads of donations for the refugee camps in Greece and elsewhere from up here in north Cornwall down to Plymouth. Rotten timing. And there’s some confusion over whether it’s supposed to be on Friday or Saturday.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ugh. Hope you get the time to indulge in feeling sorry for yourself….. And the time for some self care.
Sending hugs and virtual chicken soup.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Perfect. I’m not so pure a vegetarian that I’m above appreciatig virtual chicken soup.
LikeLike