Volume 4

87

OLD ENGLISH CUSTOM IN MODERN GUISE: BEATING THE BOUNDS

The custom of beating the bounds dates back to Roman times, and is said to be a survival of the Terminalia, or festival of Terminus. It was general in medieval England and still survives in a few places. One of these is S. Clement Danes, London, where once a year the parish officials walk round the parish boundaries with the choristers, who beat the boundary marks with long rods