The River Path The River Path
River Boundaries
A river may offer an obvious line, but it is a mistake to imagine it is permanent. Feuds still break out when, after floods, the river takes to another course isolating a bit of someone's field on the opposite bank. On a map, wiggly boundary lines which wander away from and rejoin a meadering river often point to nature's unreliability.
The biggest of rivers and quite small streams are often used as boundaries. Beating the Bounds at Rogationtide can prove interesting, a boat is required to carry the Mayor of Medway, who holds the title of Admiral of the River, to trace the boundary down the centre of the estuary.
The Lord of the Manor's Rent Book details a perambulation in Dorset on June 8 1808 which included "following the course of the River due north.... to the Watering Place, opposite to a meadow called Hayward's Meadow, where John White swam across the River, with Levi Warren on his back, and landing in the said Meadow proclaimed Two Acres thereof as belonging to the Parish of Marnhull". The description ends - "Memorandum Rushes were cut in different parts of the river on the said Perambulation, ascertaining the Lords right to them". Reference to these peculiar moments of history can be found in the county archives. Maps of rights to cut rushes, descriptions of marking swans beaks, or notes on ancient heronries can throw light on habitats and the extraordinary persistence of populations existing now, or excite with the prospect of reintroduction.
The stone shown above on the left is the old Berkshire county boundary, in the River Cole near Coleshill. On the right is a stone on a bridge where the A30 crosses the Bow Brook - and from Somerset into Dorset.
From Rivers Rhynes and Running Brooks -
Local Distinctiveness and the water in our lives
Common Ground, 2000.
You can order a copy from Common Ground.
See our publication pages for details.
