See "Roses as a Barrier" on the Rose Forum and my reply.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rose as a Barrier

Omar Khayyam........you can check it out in the Heritage(antique) rose garden in the Park of Roses.

'Village Maid'/R. centifolia variegata and 'Belle Amour' are both beautiful, fragrant (BA is myrrh-scented) roses as well as painfully thorny and many caned. I don't know about health in your area.
Melissa

Himmelsauge also might be a good choice, if the fence is not too long, as well as almost any wichurana climber, they all come with thorns, but might be not dense enough as a thief deterent. You could try Mermaid if it is sheltered place, usually that ups the temperatures a couple degrees. Bigger rugosas are really impassable barrier, just they need some space to form a thicket.

Harrison's Yellow should do the trick. Among the Rugosas, some will and some won't. I'd choose Jen's Monk if you want it to stay reasonably groomed, some of the wilder species ones if you don't. A third choice; Shakespeare's Rose (R. eglanteria). At least if the intruders got through the latter they could be identified by the green apple scent clinging to them.

Here is a link that might be useful: R. eglanteria blog on Garden Musings

The eglanteria Greenmantle will fix you up in no time flat. My 5-inch twig received from RVR in 2008 has become a 12-foot crook-eating monster in the 2 years it has been in the ground. Not unlike Mermaid, but reported hardy down to zone 5. And also has the apple-scented foliage that is especially nice in the cool of the morning and after the rain.

Hi Eric,
Boy, do I have the perfect thief-deterring, man-eating rose for you! Ditto what was said about r. eglanteria....she is a monstrous, cold-hardy, skin-tearing, fearsome giant of a rosebush. Mine is perfectly hardy to the tips and the largest rosebush you will ever see growing in zone 4. She does have the scent of apples, especially after it rains and makes nice hips in the fall.
She definitely has that 'wild' look to her so not everyone
will think she's beautiful, but trust me, no one will think of going through her (see my photos of her canes, below). Another rose that has extremely vicious thorns, but is extremely beautiful and hardy is centifolia Variegata. She gets pretty big, although not nearly so huge as r. eglanteria. I don't have pics of her thorns, but trust me, they are UGLY, in contrast to her lovely blooms. Either of these would do the trick, and neither has any disease issues here for me and are bulletproof in terms of cold hardiness.

Celeste

Here is 'Eglantine'......she's a beast!

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closeup of blooms....
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for size reference, I am 5'8" and this is one rosebush!

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Centifolia Variegata.....
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I'd go with eglanteria or Greenmantle, too. I can't get Greenmantle to bloom here much. Too much cane loss. But the leaves and thorns are beautiful, anyway.
The thorns are the biggest of any I've got, and blood red. I'm thinking of moving mine due to the low bloom factor to a sheltering wall. Which your privacy fence would accomplish.
Longest canes I've seen: 19 feet.
How much room have you got between the fence and the alley? These types need at least five feet.

cincy city garden, you didn't way what size you wanted your thorny beast to be.

That's an important consideration!!

I LOVE the smell of R. eglanteria's foliage, but unfortunately that's a rose I'll probably never grow since I'm unlikely to ever live somewhere where I own a large enough piece of land for it to fit well on the property as a flowering shrub.

The eglantine rose is a beast! One look at it and you are immediately reminded that roses are "briars"!

Having said that, if it's too large for the place you want to put your barrier you need to say that. There are smaller roses than the eglantine that also are fearsomely thorny.

We thought we wanted this when we moved into our "urban pioneer" house in Brooklyn. But we found it much more of a hazard to ourselves than to any potential marauder. I got rid of the lethal monster Nova Zembla with no regrets. On the other hand, New Dawn is bullet proof and quite thorny enough.

If you really want the horticultural equivalent of razor wire, though, you could try poncirus trifoliata.

Here is a link that might be useful: Poncirus

Another one of the eglanterias you might want to consider is Manning's Blush, same ferociousness on a more modest scale. Nicely shaped without all those wavy arms, but still well able to keep prowlers at bay. I am particularly fond of the attractive armature on this one.

I posted this last night and somehow my post got bounced... this happens on these forums I notice.

Anyway: I suggested Polareis, which is a very very thorny rugosa rambler - long thorns all over the canes. Light pink/white blooms and it repeats very sporadically and gets hips. Nice dark green foliage.

This thing is vicious.

First of all, thanks so much for all the suggestions. I never considered r. eglanteria, but I'll check them out. I'm growing Edith Bellenden and love the scent of the foliage. The space I'm looking to fill is about 20 feet wide and 4 feet deep...Mannings Blush maybe? I'll have to post pictures too.
I've heard Roseraie de l'Hay may be good too. I grew Village Maid at my old place, didn't have the vigor I'm looking for, although a lovely rose.

Eric

I would suggest that if you want a bush-type rose, the HT Electron is a good choice. If you want a climber or something that gets large, the climber Night Light will intimidate just about anybody. Both Electron and Night Light are very well armed.

If the bed's 4' deep you're probably going to be better off looking at something like Rosa rugosa alba, or maybe Stanwell Perpetual, (or maybe even the native Rosa virginiana, with its red winter canes???)

This is Omar Khayyam
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The rugosa 'SIR THOMAS LIPTON'. I don armor when I wade in to prune the row of 7. They are bloodthirsty, ornery beasts with rows of teeth that scare the daylights out of me...seriously. They easily get 7-8' tall and grow in a vaselike shape...very bushy.

I pity the fool who would venture through their talons to raid your castle. He would not escape unscathed.

Gosh, Jeffcat, that's a horror show! Do they have a license to grow that thing?

Sherry

I really liked the suggestion of Stanwell Perpetual. It has everything going for it that Autumn Damask does, but WAY more thorns, somewhat less upkeep, and good growing habit for a barrier.

Oh, Eric, I vote for Stanwell Perpetual! Beauty, repeat & fragrance!! Plus viciousness.

Sherry

Haha Sherry the nasty part about Omar Khayyam is that the thorns are medium sized and incredibly plentiful, but the thorns are not very strong. They break off rather easily......which is bad for anybody that falls into Omar(I know personally). The thorns dig into the skin and break off then get stuck under the skin......they are a b&*ch to get out too. You have to bust out needles and tweezers.

For a fence application in particular, my go-to roses are the Wichurana ramblers. If they're hardy in your area, I suggest Albertine ... the meanest of the ones I grow (and I grow a lot of 'em.) She's relatively stiff, the canes are armed with large thorns, and she is incredibly beautiful when blooming, and afterward as leafy canes. For a 20' fence, two Albertines will adequately do the job, with room to spare.

Connie

Thanks again for the additional suggestions. Connie, the wichurana ramblers are hardy here. I've got Etain growing on my side fence. Down at my old Cincinnati garden, which is still mine since we rented our house out :), has mature Francois Poisson that is tip hardy.

I've always wanted a Stanwell Perpetual for the yard garden, but I'm not sure if it would get tall enough (6ft plus) for my application?

Jeff, thanks for the pictures!

Terry, here's Sir Thomas Lipton at the Columbus Garden of Roses:
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...and the eglanteria
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Jeff, can you identify these monsters? I was too busy taking pictures last year to get the names:
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Eric

The first one is Marie-Louise I believe if I have the location correct. The 2nd one is Mrs. Anthony Waterer. I posted pics of Mrs. Anthony Waterer in the antique rose forum. I have a few pics of Marie-Louise, but of the 3000 pics I took of the Rose Garden, I still haven't finished editing and uploading them onto a web album. I have to resize all of them and add them all to HMF too.....that will take a bit haha.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mrs. Anthony Waterer

Those are some mean flesh-eating machines! A while back here in Peoria some residents were having the same problem with criminals using an gulley as a cut-through and hangout for their noctural activities, and the folks in the area were asking the Peoria Garden Club for recommendations for a nasty rose hedge to deter the gulley from being used.

Any of these would be excellent choices, I believe. I wouldn't want to venture too close!

I would think any hybrid tea rose that reverted to its root stock (the red climber rose) would work great. I have one that I've kept and its the only rose the deer won't even touch. It's a monster, but it does the job! :)

Harrisons Yellow, Sarah Van Fleet,

Well, there are always the "Pteracantha" roses (there are more than one of them).

Eric asked, "I've always wanted a Stanwell Perpetual for the yard garden, but I'm not sure if it would get tall enough (6ft plus) for my application?"

Here in California, it has no problem reaching 5-7 feet, but I'm not sure in your zone, maybe someone who grows it in a colder area could chime in?

Here, Stanwell Perpetual struggles to reach three feet. It will probably get larger in Ohio, but I'd ask for local input before getting it.

Actually, I'm confused about the size requirements. Usually, these requests are for something as big as possible. So the usual suspects are Darlow's Enigma, Quadra, William Baffin, and things like that. But they won't fit in a 4 ft space.

Stanwell P doesn't get that big in zone 5.
I second Karl and the rugosas. Thomas Lipton was sp'd from my garden precisely because of the thorns plus vase shape - too rigid looking for a single specimen, but would be perfect for a living fence.
Also Polareis - my single specimen is over 10' high, and has spread into a full bush at least that wide. So the 4' width might be challenged, although I guess you could whack it back.

A couple of people have mentioned Harrison's Yellow. There are also a few others of the same sort (early blooming yellow roses) that are hardy and tall.

Traviata is large vigourous and has thorns that could be used against vampires.
Crocus rose is similar but with smaller and denser thorns
Climbing Madam Sombreulli (or whatever they're calling it now) is pretty thorny.

All three are winter hardy and need to be sprayed around here.

I agree with professorroush, try Jens Munk. In my yard it reaches approx. 6' x 6'. It's on it's own roots so it suckers as well. It has nasty spiky thorns, so great to keep animals and intruders out. Also I second the Sweet briar or Eglantine Rose, it gets pretty massive out here. You can also try a few Rugosas, Scabrosa, Hansa and one variety called Mont Blanc. I think it only gets to 4' though. Scabrosa is an excellent candidate, it gets roughtly 5.5'. It has beautiful fall foliage. Hansa is thorny and gets to 6.5' high and wide. Hansa is a very common rose in our area due to its hardiness. Therese bugnet, another common rose in our area, also gets about 6 feet high-lovely fountain shape.

Hope this helps.

Gary

I forgot to mention some others:

Rosa glauca (Rosa rubrifolia)-5'h and w.

-rosa spinosissima/ pimpinellifolia hybrids-Fr�hlingsgold (2.5 meters high), Harison's Salmon,Harison's Yellow. This group is known for having lots of dangerous looking thorns.

-more rugosas-Souvenir de Philemon Coche, Wasagaming, Roseraie de L'Hay, Rosa rugosa alba

It's in an alley along a fence. You want something vicious that requires very little maintenance and is disease free. But unless you want to be bothered with quite a bit of pruning (which won't be fun) and tying up to the fence (which won't be fun either) I would stay away from the ramblers such as New Dawn, Dr. W. van Fleet, Alberic barbier, etc. These will climb, but left on their own will also sprawl all over, including the alley. I would use something that will stand up on its own without a lot of help and can just be sheared back from the alley when necessary--eglantyne, rugosa, and a number of others mentioned here should do fine. One also has to consider the quality of soil in an alley -- likely not the greatest. We assume you have sun, but sweet briars will do fine in considerable shade.
A modern rose that will keep blooming, stand-up on its own, and is quite thorny,large and tall, over six feet, is Austin's The Pilgram, a yellow rose, that some think to be the most handsome and best of all the Austin roses, but alas it won't be as bullet proof as the sweet briars or rugosas, will require more water during droughty periods, and can get a little blackspot. It also requires more fertilizer to be at its best. I'd stick with the species and near species roses.