Establishing a land boundary where no fenceline exists

Forge Property Consultants was recently involved in an interesting case to plot a boundary across some remote moorland in North Wales.

The historic boundary had been lost and to make matters more complicated, there was no fenceline between the private land and the common land. As a result, the landowner was losing valuable grazing. To solve the issue, the landowner enlisted our help to set out an accurately plotted boundary line and once that was established, he intended to construct a new fence.

No visual reference points for land boundary

The boundary was approximately 4.5 km long with no visual reference points. Our surveyor carried out an initial inspection of the site to establish access routes and gain an understanding of the complexity of the job. We then engaged Advantage Geomatics Ltd to assist our team with specialist measuring equipment.

Plotting points for boundary line

The first stage was to overlay the Land Registry title plan to Ordnance Survey data and then use this to generate grid reference points every 20 metres. The grid points were loaded into a Topcon Hyper SR RTK GPS rover. This device is extremely exact, being accurate to 20mm, and can be used for setting out, as it was in this case, or for topographic surveys when data is collected about land features and elevations.

Every grid reference point was marked with a tall stake and painted. After 4,500 metres of plotting, the team was within 100mm of an established corner post. Once our clients confirmed the boundary with their neighbours, they could put a up new fence, confident that the boundary line is now accurately established and their land protected for the future.

Our chartered surveyors have extensive experience in the management of all types of property - from huge country estates and large mixed portfolios to single dwellings, commercial units, offices and land. Contact us to see how we can help you maximise value from your land.