The Great Hedge of India - Tapa dura

This is the story of a quest, in the author's words 'a ridiculous obsession', sparked off by the chance purchase for £25 in a Charing Cross Road bookshop of some memoirs by a 19th-century British official.
The memoirs referred in passing to a great hedge planted across the Indian sub-continent, manned and cared for by 12,000 men. It stood for more than 50 years and, at its greatest extent, formed part of a barrier 2,500 miles long. One of the largest man-made constructions in human history it appears in no history books and today remains completely forgotten in both Britain and India.
Inspired by the idea of such a gargantuan enterprise and its extraordinary disappearance, Roy Moxham began his researches in the British Library and the India Office Archive. Eventually he set off to India to discover whether it had indeed existed, what its purpose had been and whether any part of it remained.

The memoirs referred in passing to a great hedge that by the 1850s ran for 1,500 miles across India. It was planted as part of a Customs Line established by the East India company which stretched from the Himalayas to Orissa. Manned by 12,000 men to extort the hated Salt Tax,it was one of the greatest constructions in human history, yet it appears in almost no history books and today seems completely forgotten in both Britain and India. Inspired by the idea of such a gargantuan enterprise and its extraordinary disappearance, Roy Moxham began his researches in the British Library and the India Office Archive. Eventually he set off to India to discover whether it had indeed existed, what its purpose had been and whether any part of it remained.

Roy Moxham is the author of Tea - Addiction Exploitation and Empire (2003), The Great Hedge of India (2001) and The Freelander (1990). Born and brought up in Evesham, Worcestershire, he went out to Africa in 1961 as a tea planter in Nyasaland, later Malawi. He spent 13 years in Eastern Africa before returning to London to set up a gallery of African art.

Subsequently, Roy Moxham qualified as a book and paper conservator. After working at Canterbury Cathedral Archives he became Senior Conservator of the University of London Library. Following retirement in 2005 he devotes his energies to writing and giving talks. He spends half his time in London and the other half travelling, principally in India.

Reviews:

The Great Hedge of India
'Both scholarly and funny - a rare combination. It surprised me and I hugely enjoyed it.' Eric Newby

'Moxham has written a parable at once light-handed and melancholy about the cruelty and folly of Empire.' Sunil Khilnani, Financial Times

Tea - Addiction, Exploitation and Empire
'A very well-written book and enlightening on all aspects of the desirable shrub.' Financial Times

'A masterful historical study.' Good Book Guide