Bocage (UK:/bəˈkɑːʒ/,[1]US:/ˈboʊkɑːʒ/BOH-kahzh) is a terrain of mixed woodland and pasture characteristic of parts of northern France, southern England, Ireland, theNetherlands, Portugal (examples in Baixo Vouga Lagunar, Angeja, Estarreja), northern Spain and northern Germany, in regions wherepastoral farming is the dominant land use.
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Bocage may also refer to a small forest, a decorative element of leaves, or a type ofrubble-work, comparable with the English use of "rustic" in relation to garden ornamentation. In the decorative arts, especiallyporcelain, it refers to a leafy screen spreading above and behind figures. Though found on continental figures, it is something of an English speciality, beginning in the mid-18th century, especially inChelsea porcelain, and later spreading to more downmarketStaffordshire pottery figures.
In English,bocage refers to a terrain of mixed woodland and pasture, with fields and winding country lanessunken between narrow low ridges and banks surmounted by tall thick hedgerows that break the wind but also limit visibility. It is the sort of landscape found in many parts of southern England, for example theDevon hedge andCornish hedge. However the term is more often found in technical than general usage in England. In France the term is in more general use, especially inNormandy, with a similar meaning. Bocage landscape in France is largely confined to Normandy,Brittany,Burgundy and parts of theLoire valley.
Bocage is aNorman word that comes from the Old Normanboscage (Anglo-Normanboscage, Old Frenchboschage), from the Old French rootbosc ("wood") > Modern Frenchbois ("wood") cf. Medieval Latinboscus (first mentioned in 704 CE).[2] TheNorman place names retain it asBosc-,-bosc,Bosc-, pronounced traditionally[bɔk] or[bo]. Thesuffix-age means "a general thing". Theboscage form was used in English for "growing trees or shrubs; a thicket, grove; woody undergrowth"[3] and to refer to decorative design imitating branches and foliage or leafy decoration such as is found on eighteenth-century porcelain; since early twentieth century this usually called "bocage".[4] Similar words occur in Scandinavian (cf. Swedishbuskage; Danishbuskads) and other Germanic languages (cf. Dutchbos,boshaag); the original root is thought to be the Proto-Germanic*bŏsk-. Theboscage form seems to have developed its meaning under the influence of eighteenth-centuryromanticism.
The 1934Nouveau Petit Larousse definedbocage as "abosquet, a little wood, an agreeably shady wood" and abosquet as "a little wood, a clump of trees". By 2006, thePetit Larousse definition had become "(Norman word) Region where the fields and meadows are enclosed by earth banks carrying hedges or rows of trees and where the habitation is generallydispersed in farms and hamlets."
In southeast England, in spite of a sedimentary soil which would not fit this landscape, a bocage resulted from the movement to enclose what were onceopen fields.
During the 17th century, England developed an ambitious sea policy. One of the effects of this was the importation of Russian wheat, which was cheaper than English wheat at that time.The enclosures common in the bocage countryside favoured sheep husbandry and limited English cereal grain production, and as a consequence of this policy, therural exodus was amplified, accelerating theIndustrial Revolution.The surplus of agricultural workers migrated to the cities to work in factories.[citation needed]
InNormandy, the bocage acquired a particular significance in theChouannerie during the French Revolution.[5]
The bocage was also significant during theBattle of Normandy in World War II, as it made progress against the German defenders difficult.[6] Plots of land were divided by ancient rows of dirt alongside drainage ditches; thick vegetation on these dirt mounds could create barriers up to 16 feet (4.9 m) high. A typical square mile on the battlefield might contain hundreds of irregular hedged enclosures.[7]In response, "Rhino tanks" fitted with bocage-cutting modifications were developed. American personnel usually referred to bocages ashedgerows. The German army also usedsunken lanes to implement strong points and defences to stop the American troops on theCotentin Peninsula and around the town ofSaint-Lô.[8]
Almost all of lowland Ireland is characterised by bocage landscape, a consequence of pastoral farming which requires enclosure for the management of herds. Approximately 5% of Ireland's land area is devoted to hedges, field walls andshelterbelts. In the more fertile areas these usually consist of earthen banks, which are planted with or colonised by trees and shrubs; this vegetation can give the impression of a wooded landscape, even where there is little or no woodland. This pattern of hedgerows was largely established in the late 18th and 19th centuries, a period when Ireland was virtually devoid of natural woodland. Modern intensive agriculture has tended to increase field size by removing hedgerows, a trend which for years was promoted by theCommon Agricultural Policy of theEuropean Union[9] and recently has been countered by the European Union's agricultural policies favouring the conservation of wildlife habitats.
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