Fencing...

[Burton Choinski]

No, not stuff with swords -- stuff with wood! :)

With Paul's query on walled cities, and with my experience with a player
(with lots of land), wanting to fence it all in, I did a little digging
about.

From
"http://www.mayo-ireland.ie/Mayo/Towns/MayAbbey/MyoAlive/Mag1096/AbbyTalk.htm"...
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On top of building materials has come a colossal requirement for
material for fencing - much more so than hedges, which only really
remain on major field
boundaries and only come into use to keep stock in in the 18th century
in England. The early medieval practice is to fence animals out. To
replace the
modest 2.3 km of fencing at Bede's World on a five-year cycle requires
2.5 hectares/ 6.2 acres of coppiced, managed woodland. To maintain it at
current
rates - approximately 1 hour per metre - requires 15 man/ hours for 30
weeks per year.
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This works out to a 5 year cycle of wood harvesting for this abbey in
their woodlands.  With this as a rule of thumb, I propose the following:




WOOD FENCES IN THE LANDS PERILOUS

Definitions:
Low Fence: A two-bar wooden post fence, about 3' high, suitable for
keeping in cattle or sheep.

High Fence: similar to low fence, but built with an extra bar for a
total height of 5'.  Suitable for keeping in horses.

Stockade: Solid vertical posts of wood that block access and sight to
people, 9' high.

Reinforced Stockade: Similar to stockade, but toughened up for limited
war use or protection against monsters.

Type               Woodland       Maintenance
   Low Fence          1200'           4 days
   High Fence          800'           5 days
   Stockade             40'          20 days
   Rf. Stockade         12'          20 days

Maintenance is man days per 100' of fence length. Fencemenders make 5bb
per day.

The Woodland is how many feet of the indicated fence that one acre of
managed woodland is required to maintain the integrety of the fence
(replacing broken/rotted peices). In general terms, this can be
considered to be the average "yield per acre" of land within a forest
hex.  For other terrain types, use the following table:
    Plains     x0.25
    Hills      x0.5
    Mountain   x0.5
    Jungle     x1.25

As a thought experiment, let me follow through with my player's desire
to stockade fence his 5,600 acres of land.  Assuming a square area,
5,600 acres is approximately 15,600 feet on a side, for a perimeter of
62,400 feet.  This will require a maintenance acreage of 1,560 acres of
forest land, but given his mountain holdings this is increased to 3,120
acres of mountain forest.  Granted, much of this forest may be used for
hunting small game or orchards, so it is not completely wasted.

This 62,400 feet of stockade will require 12,480 man days of maintenace
time. Given a working year of 310 days per year (assuming 1 day off per
week for holy days or rest times), we must also assume that not every
day is good for work, so we will cut this in half, for 155 days per man
per year.  He will therefore require 80 full-time fencemenders on his
payroll (which also have to be supported by his people's crops).  These
80 will cost him 4 silver per day, or 146GP per year.

There is a reason, people, why you don't stockade fence your lands. :)

NOTE: These rules only detail maintenance of fences, not construction.
     -- Burton
--
_____________________________________________________________
Burton Choinski
Principle Software Engineer, Quality Engineering
email: burton.choinski at matrixone.com

phone: 978-322-2135
fax  : 978-452-5764

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Two Executive Drive
Chelmsford, Ma 01824
www.matrixone.com

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