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The first part of the Beating of the Widecombe Bounds was held on 6th May 2000.

We met at Newbridge ready for a ten o’clock departure. It was a beautiful day, with every sign of being very hot. There was a mention of thunderstorms later in the afternoon, so we kept our fingers crossed.

Peter Hirst explained the rules (all sign in the book so we know who has started, if you leave before the end, make sure you sign out etc). Anthony Beard briefly explained the historical significance.

Peter explained that the parish boundaries were laid out by the Church, and were mostly based on the old manor boundaries. The tradition of beating the bounds was to signify where the boundaries were and to ensure that inhabitants knew where they were (and so if you found a dead body on your side, you could throw it on to the other side so that it became their responsibility -leading to a lot of to-ing and fro-ing I should think).

The Rector also wished us well and explained the politically incorrect origins of the expression ‘beating of the bounds’. The boys of the parish were apparently beaten on the boundary stones during the walk, so that they would remember where the boundary was. Nowadays of course we would have to beat both boys and girls.

Miss Needham acted as transporter of rucksacks, food etc, using her trusty wagon. We could leave any food etc with her and she would meet us on our arrival at each stopping point.

We all set off along the path from the Newbridge Car Park, under the bridge and along the edge of the River Dart.

It was beautiful and still relatively quiet (not many tourists around yet). Some of the dogs went straight into the water and sat there enjoying the cool feeling on their stomachs (I didn’t notice many people doing the same thing!).

At Buckland Bridge we stopped for a coffee break. Miss Needham was there as promised. We then had two choices, the west bank of the Webburn for the ‘adventurous’ and the east bank, along the track through Buckland Woods, for the ‘sensible’. The two groups would meet up again at the Packhorse Bridge before walking on to Cockingford. Most of the path led through private land on this stretch, so both were of great interest. The people split was approximately 2/3rds adventurous 1/3^rd sensible.

The west route was lovely and followed the river very closely. It was treacherous, muddy and slippery in parts, and was the sort of walk normally to spend many hours on.

We saw Arum Lily, wild garlic, primrose, aquilegia,….and many other plants that I cannot name.

We finally reached Lizwell Meet, where the West and East Webburn Rivers join. A small way up the West Webburn, Mark Hutchins had built a bridge to get us across safely. How on earth had he managed to do it so far from a road. Had he carried each item by hand?? What was his secret? Anyway, three cheers for Mark and on our way. Secret solved, we started walking on Forestry tracks wide enough for a truck and very soon reached the Packhorse Bridge, recently strengthened through the use of that interesting modern substance - concrete.

Another atmospheric view of the Packhorse Bridge.

We crossed the East Webburn here and joined the other group and then proceeded up to Cockingford, where one or two people (the younger amongst us) decided to cool off a bit.

Ah Lunch and the food wagon at last.

After a hot lunch (weather not food) we again split for the trip up the hill to Pudsham. The adventurous to go a little further up the river and then up through the woods, and the sensible to proceed up the road to the cattle grid at the start of Pudsham Down. This hedges along this road (OK we dropped from adventurous to sensible - but what’s wrong with that?) and the roadside were an absolute picture. Especially the orchids which were just appearing.

At the cattle grid we turned across the Down to pick up the adventurous and had another break. We then headed to Scobitor gate to mark the boundary at that point and then followed the boundary wall up and across to Blackslade Water and Williams Well and then onto Blackslade Ford.

Once there we passed by the remains of the old longhouse and on to Foales Arrishes and (some of us) through Blackslade Mire (and very mirey it was too).

After another break near Hemsworthy Gate, we viewed the boundary stones that go off in a line back across the mire (and where we did a symbolic ‘beating’). And then viewed the boundary marker close to Hemsworthy Gate, with Natalie looking delightful into the bargain.

Close up of the Boundary marker at Hemsworthy Gate.

We then walked along the boundary across Seven Lord’s Land (so called because seven manors meet there), stopped to look at the Kistvaen and (some of us) had a rest (its all the time spent waiting for the slow coaches to catch up), and then on to the final stone about halfway to Holwell.

The walk then finished with the mile or so to Holwell Gate at approximately 5.00 p.m.

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