Beating the bounds is an ancient tradition that is still carried out in some places in the country. The tradition involves hitting prominent landmarks with green birch branches to maintain a mental map of parish boundaries. This occurred every seven years and was known as 'going a-ganging,' and its origins date to Anglo-Saxon times and are believed to derive from a festival originally celebrated on the 22nd of February to honour the God of landmarks, Terminus, but in more recent times it was carried out on Ascension Day.
The tradition of Beating the bounds
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