Society contains our behaviors. On a minute-by-minute basis, the containers it puts us in restrict what we can do and steer our course of action. In a much more literal sense, fences do the same. Where we move is a choice we must make every second of every day, and even though we can often see over a fence, we walk around it or avoid going inside the fenced-in area. With this being said, just like we can overcome societal restrictions, we can also climb fences. We take fences’ existence for granted, but why are they there? How did they get there? Should they even still be there? What even IS a fence?

According to the Oxford Dictionary, a fence is  “a structure serving as a barrier, boundary or enclosure, usually made of posts or stakes joined together by boards, wire, or rails. It surrounds, separates, keeps away, it defends.” The word “fence” comes from the fourteenth-century French word, “fens,” a shorthand word for defense. Fences were initially used in an agricultural setting by the Greeks and were one of the first ways in which society demarcated private property. While Greek land partitions in domestic cities were based on social recognition of that land, when conquering territories, they would divide the land with physical partitions. This practice was then replicated by the Romans.

Throughout history, fencing materials have evolved, and the amount to choose from has expanded from dirt to wood to stone. Likewise, the types of fences constructed throughout history have also evolved. Historically, fences have ranged from simple and functional to ornate and decorative. Fence designs such as worm fences proved to be efficient to make and highly functional, as you didn’t need to put any stakes into the ground. In contrast, later Victorian fences were resource intensive and highly ornate, still serving the same function as the worm fence and additionally serving as decoration. 

Worm Fence                                                                                                                    Victorian Fence

While walls prevent one from accessing an area, fences indicate a barrier between two spaces that is often more figurative than literal. While one can climb a wall and the wall fails its purpose, one can climb most fences, yet they still serve their function of indicating a difference between two spaces. This difference is also accentuated by the variety of fences which span from opaque to permeable to transparent, depending on the specific intent they have when it comes to separating spaces.

Like many things in our world, we pass fences daily and never think to consider their function or their history. Fences mold our movement and transform our spaces. Functionally, they separate our spaces and protect our property. Decoratively, they bring an element of closure to a space without obstructing the view. There is so much to appreciate about these simple structures, and it all comes as a result of… oddly specific information.