A fence draws a boundary without a continuous foundation
Fences enclose outdoor space with posts linked by boards, wire, rails, or netting. Unlike walls, they lack a solid foundation along their whole length. Uses stretch from livestock control and privacy to jet blast deflection and noise barriers.
Farm fences hold livestock in or keep predators out, while privacy, perimeter and boundary fences mark property lines, deter trespass and theft, and stop children and pets from straying. Temporary panels control access and direct people around building sites. More specialised designs include acoustic barriers against traffic noise, blast fences behind runways that deflect jet exhaust, low plastic drift fences that steer newts, turtles and other small animals, and buried pet fences. Balustrades and railings guard stairs, balconies, bridges and cliff edges, and the Hesco barrier, a collapsible wire cage lined with heavy fabric, serves military defences and flood control. A ditch, or a moat if it holds water, can do the same job.
Materials reflect local resources. Scandinavia, rich in timber, favours roundpole fences with closely spaced rails, while settlers in newly opened parts of the United States and Canada laid split rails in zigzags. Parts of Wales wire upright slate slabs together, and northern England has vaccary fences, named from the Latin for cow, made of thin standing stones. In semiarid grasslands such as the American West and the Russian steppe, turf mounds serve the purpose.
Wooden designs vary widely. A post-and-rail fence sets upright pales in the ground, their tops tapered so rain runs off instead of rotting the end grain, and links them with two or three rails. A palisade packs sharpened stakes side by side, and the stockade is a smaller log version used for privacy. The waist-high painted picket fence is partly decorative, wattle weaves split branches between stakes, and hedgerows are living shrubs laid and interwoven. Modern options include chain-link, woven wire from chicken mesh to sheep fence, wrought iron, and composite panels of recycled wood and plastic.
In most developed areas fences are regulated, with rules on height, material, setback and appearance, and some sites are legally required to be fenced for safety.
Source: Fence
