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