Beating the Bounds

London Explained – Parish boundary markers…

by exploringlondon

You may have noticed small stone or metal plaques installed on buildings which are inscribed with some letters and a date.

These are typically parish boundary markers, marking the geographical reach of a particular parish. The letters refer to the parish name and the date when the boundary was set or marked (some markers actually have more than one date, the second being when parish boundaries were confirmed).

Parish boundary markers in Chancery Lane. PICTURE: R~P~M (licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Traditionally, parishioners were reminded of the boundaries each year at Rogationtide – the three days of the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before Ascension Day (39 days after Easter Sunday) – in a ceremony known as the ‘Beating the Bounds’.

This custom involved the priest and parishioners, led by the churchwardens and beadle, walking around the stones which served as boundary markers and pausing to beat each one with sticks and pray for protection and blessings (apparently there was also a practice of pushing boys from the charity schools into the boundary walls so they’d remember them or beating them with willow wands when there was no wall).

The boundary stones have, in more recent centuries, been replaced by the plaques in London but the ceremony is still carried out in some parishes.

Interestingly, in some parishes, the boundary is located in the midst of the Thames and boats are taken to ‘beat the mark’ in the middle of the river.

What’s in a name?…Gospel Oak

by exploringlondon

Yes, the name of this inner north-west London district – which sits between Hampstead and Kentish Town – does originate with an oak.

Up until the early 19th century, the tree was apparently used as a marker between the parish boundaries of Hampstead and St Pancras. So that’s the oak part.

The gospel part comes from the use of the term to describe the medieval custom of ‘beating the bounds’ – an annual event in which residents would walk around their parish boundary and literally beat prominent boundary markers as a way of conveying to a then largely illiterate people where the borders were located. The oak, said to have stood on the corner of Southampton and Mansfield Roads, was one such marker.

As well as the beating part, the event would also involve the singing of hymns and, yes, the reading of sections of the gospels while standing under the oak. Hence Gospel Oak.

The oak was also apparently used as a site for open-air preaching at other times and it’s said that St Augustine, 14th century Bible translator John Wycliffe, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, and fellow evangelist George Whitefield are among the many who preached under the oak (although many of these claims can be taken with a grain of salt).

The area was predominantly rural until the mid-1800s when local landowners  Lord Mansfield, Lord Southampton and Lord Lismore began selling off the land for development. The houses built here were apparently at the more affordable end of the market, perhaps not surprising given the area became criss-crossed with railroad lines. Devastated by bombing during World War II, large parts of Gospel Oak were rebuilt in the mid-20th century.

The (now) London Overground station which bears the name Gospel Oak (pictured below) was opened in 1860, originally with the name Kentish Town (but quickly renamed Gospel Oak when Kentish Town was used elsewhere). Other landmarks include St Martin’s Church in Vicars Road (pictured above), which has been described as one of the “craziest” of London’s Victorian churches, and All Hallows Church in Shirlock Road.

One of the area’s more famous residents, Michael Palin, has lived in the area since the 1960s and reportedly planted a new oak in Lismore Circus in 1998 but the tree has apparently not survived.

PICTURES: Google Maps

LondonLife – Beating the Bounds at All Hallows

by exploringlondon

Thursday is Ascension Day and, at All Hallows by the Tower in the City, that means conducting the ancient ceremony of Beating the Bounds.

The origins of the custom go back to medieval times when parishes annually reaffirmed their boundaries by undertaking a procession during which each parish boundary marker was beaten with wands while praying for protection and blessings.

At All Hallows, the beating party consists of students from Dunstan College in Catford (these students have an association with the church of St Dunstan-in-the-East which is now part of the parish of All Hallows) along with parish clergy and the masters of livery companies associated with the parish and Thames waterboatmen. (Pictured right is last year’s procession).

Highlights of the procession at All Hallows include the beating of the parish’s southern marker – this is located in the middle of the Thames and must be reached by boat – and the mock ‘confrontation’ which occurs between the beating party and the Governor and Yeoman Warders of the Tower of London.

The ‘confrontation’ relates to the fact that the parish and the tower share a boundary – this was apparently a common cause of dispute in the Middle Ages and led, in 1698, to a ‘battle’ between the people of the parish and those of the tower. The ceremony is followed by attendance at a festal evensong at the church.

For more, see www.ahbtt.org.uk/history/beating-the-bounds/

PICTURE: Courtesy of All Hallows by the Tower.