Beating the Bounds
Join Emma Cunis as she recounts her experience of Beating the Bounds of Gidleigh Common, an ancient tradition of walking parish boundaries. Through wild moorland and historic landmarks, she explores the deep connection between people, place, and community.
Ready to set off for Beating the Bounds at Gidleigh, 1956.
Beating the Bounds is an ancient tradition that still exists in many parishes across Britain. And on August Bank Holiday Monday I was delighted to participate again in part of this community ritual for the parish of Gidleigh here on north east Dartmoor. It was a joy to meet and gather with old and new friends, to walk together in shared appreciation for Dartmoor’s landscape, culture and heritage, plus there were plenty of stops along the way to acknowledge and clean each boundary stone as well as to rest, drink water (it was hot!), eat a snack, and admire the stunning views all around us. Skye participated in the dog race but was distracted by a whippet competitor who tried to take her out of the running!
If you’re curious to learn more about the history, meaning, and embodied resonance of this ritual, you might enjoy an article I wrote back in 2018 about Beating the Bounds, where I explored the tradition in more depth and reflected on its significance for community, land, and memory.
Article originally published in 'Dartmoor News’ 2018
Our modern, globalised world offers tremendous opportunities for travel; to buy products from far away lands; and to communicate with distant relatives or businesses. In my 20 years living away, I worked hard; met inspiring people; explored the rich variety of landscapes that nature has to offer us around the world; and, when invited, participated in local traditions, celebrations, and ceremonies. To go on holiday to a place is to have an interesting snapshot into a country and people. To live and work amongst them is a much deeper and richer experience.
As well as noticing differences in language, dress, architecture, dance, and more, I also started to notice patterns of similarity across continents. Understanding that human beings are more similar than we are different gave me a sense of connection...and hope. Our very human needs for belonging, community, and ritual appear to span both time and borders. Having since returned home to the land I love, a recent Beating of the Bounds on High Dartmoor gave me an opportunity to see patterns of local community, ritual, and boundaries.
Last August bank holiday Monday, I was privileged to participate in Beating the Bounds of Gidleigh Common. I live nearby in Chagford so am not a parishioner of Gidleigh but my grandparents and mother used to be. In my Granny Val’s treasured photo albums, I recently came across a photograph taken outside Gidleigh Park Hotel at the start of the 1956 Beating of the Bounds. There were several familiar faces and families including my grandmother’s first husband and my grandfather Eric Hemery, and my mother Sally. Both are on horseback. And everyone is smiling. My mother has participated in several Beating of the Bounds and this year I wanted to share it together with her.
Emma Cunis and mother
Boundary stone at Brimstone Down gate
Cleaning a bound stone
Starting at 10am a large crowd of walkers and riders gathered at Brimstone Down gate. We were warmly welcomed before setting off on a long walk/ride across beautiful open moorland. Boundaries don’t usually follow nicely trodden footpaths or clear bridlepaths so there was lots of ankle-bending molinia tussocks to stumble through; gorse, and stream crossings to navigate; as well as a bog to hop across. In the age of bee-line navigators and tor to tor walkers, it was heartening to me that we were led without the use of maps - just the familiarity of landscape and knowledge of routes and bound stones handed down father to son and generation to generation. Each boundary stone was located, cleaned, and marked/touched by Commoners, landowners, or parishioners who’s families have lived and worked in Gidleigh for hundreds of years. There’s something very moving about watching several generations of Dartmoor farmers and Commoners traverse vast tracts of land that are as familiar to them as someone's back garden.
After several miles, we crossed the North Teign River one by one at ‘Rails’ and made our way up to Watern Tor. Honouring an old custom, we rode (or walked) through the two northern piles known as the Thurlestone. This prominent landscape features appears in the 'Perambulation of the Bounds of the Forest of Dartmoor’ in 1240 when King Henry III instructs his Sherriffs of Devonshire to ‘choose yourself twelve loyal knights in your country. Go in your own proper person to the forest and the aforesaid lands and by their oath cause the perambulation to be made between the aforesaid forests and the aforesaid lands’ (Commons). The Thurlestone acts as a boundary marker for Dartmoor Forest (Duchy) as well as the parishes of Throwleigh and Gidleigh.
Riding through the Thurlestone, Watern Tor
Tractors pulling hay-layered trailers offering a way to participate to the very young and those unable to walk such distances.
Pasties, cake, beer and cider were offered to us at lunchtime in the hidden gem that is Wildtor Well. Here we met with another crowd of boundary beaters who had started at Creaber gate and been transported in the relative luxury of hay-layered trailers pulled by some of the most skilled tractor drivers I’ve ever seen! Offering a way to participate to the very young and those unable to walk such distances, this was another wonderful example of how a community thinks about how everyone can participate and enjoy the tradition and day. I had thought the tractors were the easy option but apparently it was an incredibly bumpy ride and one even got stuck, having to be pulled out by another! (Turns out that the older, vintage tractors with their narrower gauge are better for navigating rough moorland tracks than larger, modern tractors. I learnt a lot of useful things on this day.)
Over 150 people met for lunch and played games
Lunch was a relaxed and fun affair with young and young-at-heart participating in time-honoured races - running, sack, three-legged, dog, egg and spoon, children, over 40s, and more. Rosettes were handed out and proudly displayed on jumpers, gilets, and jackets for the rest of the day. In our sometimes stressful modern world, these gatherings can be important for our individual as well as community health and wellbeing. There must have been around 150 of us. It was quite a sight to behold!
One of the reasons it was historically important to trace rights on the moor and parish boundaries was that there were occasionally disputes over land ownership. In 1808 Gidleigh Commoners were forced to defend their grazing rights and practices when the Duchy made a large grant of land to Mr Crawford of Teignhead Farm. Gidleigh parishioners knocked down the offending wall and, although rebuilt, only a small portion now crosses Gidleigh Common*.
Gidleigh records start with a hand drawn ‘Map of Gidley Commons taken in a Perambulation Rogation Week 1639’. 'Perambulations also took place on 22nd June 1789, led by Henry Rattery (lord of Gidleigh Manor), on 11th August 1864 led by WD Brock, John Endacott and John Rowe (of Berrydown), and on 2nd August led by Guy Whipman (lord of the manor), John Hill (pound-keeper at Creber) and the Rev JK de Haviland (rector of Gidleigh).’**
‘Map of Gidley Commons taken in a Perambulation Rogation Week 1639’.
William Dunning Brock in 1864, great grandfather to Judy Vallance. He owned Chapel Farm where she grew up.
Beating of the Bounds is an ancient tradition, possibly going back to Anglo-Saxon times or beyond. Records reveal that, before maps, it was usual to physically trace parish boundaries on Ascension Day or during Rogation week. Parochial officials and churchwardens would walk and beat the boundary markers. Sometimes young boys were bumped hard on the stones or whipped so that the locations were embedded in folk memory. There are records of priests reciting Psalms and praying for protection for the coming year at each stone as well as singing hymns - all helping to embed knowledge in oral tradition.
Although the rituals and outward display may look different, I realised as I walked that sunny August day that people around the world have ceremonies to honour the land and the boundaries of their villages or communities. Indigenous people in Australia believe there are paths across the land and sky which mark routes and important landmarks. These ‘songlines' are recorded in songs, paintings, dance, and stories. And the songs must be sung continually to keep sacred land ‘alive’. By learning and singing these songs, a native person is able to navigate vast distances and find landmarks and watering holes to survive and thrive along the way. The Kogi People of the Sierra Nevada speak of the ‘invisible black thread’ laid down by the 'Earth Mother' that connects their mountain lakes and the oceans far below them. In Peru, there are 'Spirit Lines’. In China, there are 'Dragon Lines’ and they strictly follow principles of Feng Shui for their landscapes and buildings. Perhaps on Dartmoor, the ancient ruins of pounds, settlements, reaves, stone circles, rows, standing stones, and forts delineated community boundaries as well as having practical uses.
John Jordan watching the cleaning and marking of the boundary mark at The Longstone
Commoners Crispin Alford and John Jordan
Beating of the Bounds is an important tradition and way to experience Dartmoor’s living, working landscape and people. The sense of community and camaraderie is palpable and quite wonderful. Huge thanks for the organisation and day go to John Jordan, Crispin Alford, Penny Warren, and Bill Murray as well as many others who played a role in making this such a special day. Is there a beating of the bounds coming up soon near you? Everyone should participate at least once in their lives in my view. It’s also an interesting and challenging walk if you’re into that kind of thing!
*Gidleigh, A Dartmoor Village Past and Present by Tony Gumley-Grennan and Michael Hardy
**High Dartmoor - Land and People by Eric Hemery
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