The Swedish Roundpole Fence
A fence mainly made of wood. In Sweden, it is called a gardesgard or hankgardsgard and usually built from Norway spruce. Traditionally, it was the standard fence at all farmsteads and it shut out both farmstead animals and wild ones, while providing privacy.
Gärdsgårdsstaket is an important legacy in the Swedish culture. It is a mythical symbol that brings luck, health and prosperity to anyone living under it. It has been the inspiration for many sayings, legends, predictions and ‘wishful thinking’. The fence also makes an impressive decoration to any garden.
During the seventeenth century, the settlements in Sweden were rather small hamlets. Their cultivated arable land and meadows were fenced to separate them from the outlying pastures and forests. These outlying areas belonged to the hamlet, parish, or hundred (district).
Why Swedish Roundpole Fences Are Making a Comeback
Special fences were used to keep farm animals away from the cultivated fields and meadows, but they did not enclose them. These special fences were called gardgards.
A pole fence was normally made from unbarked and unsplit young trees. In farmer-owned forests, it was common to find dead juniper bushes and the remains of old roundpole fences. In the rural area, it was also customary to build a pole fence to mark property boundaries.
Pole fences were made using a system of upright stakes, horizontal poles positioned diagonally to the pairs of stakes and supporting poles. The poles were twisted together and fastened using a rannknut (rann X-joint). The wooden material was usually spruce or juniper, but also beech and oak.…