Well, translations, having read through this thread again i can see i've been a bit dense and have wasted your time a bit. you just want to know what bank means.

Lindzi is right I reckon, you get the sense of both things together ; piles or rows, and also an area of land, probably sloped .. this is how a lot of writers work, isn't it? they often use these ambiguities to add richness to the imagery. But I still find it a weird sentence.

By the way, I love the use of 'greensward' hehe that is so old-fashioned. They used to have signs in English gardens and parks saying 'please refrain from stepping on the greensward' or something. I remember my mother taking the mickey out of it for being pretentious and out of date - 20 years ago