Skegness Magazine

BEATING THE BOUNDS
In several places in England—at Oxford and some of the London parishes for instance—a singular procession may be seen every Ascension Day.

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A number of men and boys carrying white willow wands walk round the boundaries of the parish and afterwards dine together.

This custom is called ” beating the bounds,” and arose in olden times, when parish or village boundaries were not so accurately marked out as they are nowadays.

It was once a great ceremony in country districts.

The choir sang hymns, the parson read the Gospel for the day under a tree—hence styled the Gospel Tree—and occasionally boys were whipped, or thrown into a river, or bumped against trees at certain spots, the better to impress upon their memories the exact position of a boundary.

This was all done in good part, for the lads were rewarded, and during the procession money and other gifts were distributed amongst the poor.

-From “Little Folks Magazine” for May.

Source: Skegness Herald 27th April 1894

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