Boundaries—particularly field boundaries—are among the oldest features in an English rural landscape. Although a boundary itself is an abstract concept, the boundary can often be seen by differences in land use on either side.

Longevity of boundaries

Boundaries - a real or imagined line that marks the limit of something. Many field boundaries in the central region of England originated with the

enclosure Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or " common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...

of the previous open fields in the 18th or 19th century. In a few instances, current field boundaries (particularly in the

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glouc ...

) have been shown to have originated in the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

. With a few exceptions, however, the attempt to establish pre-Saxon boundaries has been "largely fruitless". Areas that were never formally enclosed might yet prove a more fruitful area of research.

Hedgerow dating

The presence of bluebells in a hedge is often an indicator of an early hedge. It has been proposed that boundary hedges can be dated by hedgerow dating. This involves counting the number of species in a 27-metre section of hedge. In its simplest form each separate species suggests an age of 100 years. A variety of additional complexities have been suggested, but results have been mixed and the technique remains controversial.

Parish boundaries

Parish boundaries are of particular interest to landscape historians, since they are often inherited from land holdings that date back to the middle Saxon period or earlier. The coincidence of another landscape feature with a parish boundary can be used to date that feature—for example in the ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned online in 2022 for two episodes released on YouTube. Created by television producer Tim ...

'' episode screened on 11 March 2007, a mill leat was determined to pre-date the

Norman conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conq ...

because it coincided with a parish boundary. The boundaries of a few Anglo-Saxon estates were described in the boundary clauses of Anglo-Saxon Charters. These boundary clauses can sometimes be used to characterise the landscape at the time. In some cases, it has been possible to show that the boundaries of these Anglo-Saxon estates correspond to the boundaries of the subsequent parish. Parish boundaries are shown on the old "1 inch"

Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...

maps, although these are the boundaries of the civil parish which may be different. Parish boundaries are not shown on the modern "Landranger" maps.

Tithe maps The term tithe map is usually applied to a map of an English or Welsh parish or township, prepared following the Tithe Commutation Act 1836. This act allowed tithes to be paid in cash rather than goods. The map and its accompanying schedule gave th ...

, from the early 19th century, usually show the parish boundary at the time they were drawn.

Beating the Bounds

A long tradition exists in England of 'Beating the Bounds', either an annual or seven-yearly event, wherein parishioners would walk the bounds of the parish. The event was deliberately organised to make it as memorable as possible, and to hand-down an intergenerational memory of the precise boundaries. For civil parishes, the ceremony may have begun with the Poor Law Act of 1601, or much older for the 'Processioning' of churches, dating from Anglo-Saxon times. Older parishioners, and local officials, would walk the route as accurately as possible, pointing out all the various landmarks and boundary markers along the way, both natural and deliberate artefacts. A distinctive feature of these perambulations was the performance of peculiar rituals with the youngest walkers, in order to make particular points memorable. These could include being passed through the window of a local pub, rather than walking through the door, being carried across a stream, or being hung upside down by the ankles and their head 'bumped' on the grass. Such processions fell from practice in the Modernism of the mid-20th century, but there was some interest in their revival from the 1960s. Several were re-enacted after a break of as many as 21 years.

March dyke

In Scotland a march dyke is the boundary between farms or previously baronies.

Deer park boundaries

The boundaries of medieval deer parks are often marked by pronounced

earthworks Earthworks may refer to: Construction *Earthworks (archaeology), human-made constructions that modify the land contour *Earthworks (engineering), civil engineering works created by moving or processing quantities of soil *Earthworks (military), mi ...

Richard Muir, ''Be Your Own Landscape Detective'' (Sutton Publishing, 2007, p245) and for early parks, they can coincide with parish boundaries.

Former boundaries

Boundaries that have fallen out of use, may still be traceable by using

geophysics Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' so ...

or as a result of earthworks (lumps and bumps) or cropmarks. Cropmarks and earthworks are often visible in aerial photographs. Earthworks are more easily seen on photographs taken when the sun is low in the sky and as a result, shadows are more pronounced. They can also become more easily seen when the ground has a slight dusting of snow.

Notes

{{Reflist Landscape history Borders Real property law