Perambulation Nᵒ. 1

Border Oak

Less than ten minutes from my home is a road anciently traversed, down which the parish boundary used to run. On Victorian maps this appeared as a dotted line, but before lines could be drawn on paper these boundaries had to be walked to be maintained. This walk was termed a perambulation.

Many such walks took place, annually. The first recorded perambulations were during the time of the Anglo-Saxons and their boundary charters described landmarks, such as "from there to the oak spring, then to the embanked pool", or "Þonan on æcwylle, þæt on þa bytlodan polre" in Old English. Other way-finders included a boundary thorn (mǣrþorn), a mossy moor (mēosmōr), or a long oak (lang æc).

One such boundary oak stood on that old road near my home. It is now felled, but on a cold and windy day, I wondered whether the line it was once part of could be followed still and, if it could, where I would find myself if I travelled it. 

This way.

From the Boundary Oak (now felled), to the steep footway.