Beating the Bounds

The Parish Boundary of Blyth

We probably haven’t beaten the bounds in Blyth for centuries as it is an ancient custom that died out in most parishes a long time ago. The tradition involved members of the community, led by the priest, church-wardens and parochial officials, walking around the boundaries of the parish to reestablish where they were and perhaps to pray for protection against those unwelcome who might cross into the parish, and to bless the surrounding land and crops.

This ceremony, also known as ‘riding the fringes’ or ‘common riding’, took place during Rogation week, which is the fifth week after Easter, usually on Ascension Day which occurs in that week. Probably pagan in origin, it sometimes involved boys being beaten with birch or willow twigs at the sites of boundary stones or even having their heads bumped against them, so that they would remember where they were and they could ‘witness the boundaries’ in order that they should survive.

The practical purpose of ‘beating the bounds’ was to check that boundary markers were still in place and hadn’t been moved by unscrupulous members of adjoining parishes so that valuable land was lost or became disputed.

In the Parish of Blyth, we’re not suggesting that you have to beat the bounds but you may be interested in where our boundaries lie. You can trace these on the blue line on the map using the following guide so, finger ready and pointing, here we go:

We’re travelling in a clockwise direction around the boundary and a good place to start is Hodsock Red Bridge on the B6045 Worksop Road (bottom left corner of map). Going north, the centre of the River Ryton then becomes boundary between Blyth and Hodsock parishes as far as Blyth New Bridge on Sheffield Road to Oldcotes. The boundary then turns almost 90 degrees north-west towards Oldcotes and follows the road for a short distance to a point just after the Charnwood Hotel where it turns north-east, goes to the side and rear of the Hotel, and joins a ditch which crosses the fields to Nornay. At this point, on the other side of the boundary lies the parish of Styrrup with Oldcotes.

The boundary passes through Nornay, travelling north-west to Toad Holes Wood and then due north to the A1(M) (top left corner). The boundary crosses the A1(M) at Whitewater Drain by the corner of Harworth Colliery spoil stack and follows it or close by eastwards until it reaches Harworth Road, where it crosses at a point up just before Kirk View, then hits the A614 Bawtry Road near Woodland View.

The boundary follows the A614 to a point approximately 100 meters past the last bungalow in the row and then turns east for Serlby. It takes a weird and wobbly line, sometimes following the River Ryton, around and through Serlby Hall, Serlby Park, Low Farm, and the golf course. Starting south (from top right corner of map) the boundary follows the Roman Bank earthworks for much of the way until it eventually joins the Blyth - Ranskill road at Blyth Lodge; this is the keeper’s cottage in the dip after leaving the A634 Retford Road towards Ranskill.

Going south-east, the boundary then crosses the field to the junction of Moor Lane¹ and the drive up to The Mantles house and Mantles Farm, and from this point it kinks to the right and crosses Graves Moor Lane² toward the A634 Retford Road. After crossing the road, it touches the north side of the isolated wood which can be clearly seen from Long Brecks Lane. Here the adjoining parish is Torworth with Ranskill. It then heads to the A1. The boundary then turns 90 degrees to the north, follows the A1 towards Blyth until it reaches Plantation Lane, and then goes due west following Plantation Lane³ back to the place where we started at Red Bridge.

Out of breath? You should be – you’ve just travelled approximately 9½ miles in about three minutes!

For the benefit of older Blyth residents who may still remember:

¹ Moor Lane was often referred to as The Mantles or Mantles Lane
² Graves Moor Lane was also called Torworth Baulk
³ Plantation Lane was nicknamed Dickie Simms - we don’t know why; do you?