Description:A clergyman leads the parishioners, with heads bowed, in prayer during the beating of the bounds at Cheddleton. The men are holding their doffed caps.
Beating the bounds is an old custom, where parishioners walked around the boundaries of the parish, beating landmarks with sticks or branches, to reinforce the knowledge of their location. Sometimes the boys of the parish might also be beaten, in order to impress the locations into their memories. Now that maps of parish boundaries exist, the tradition is rarely observed but still takes place in some places in England and Wales. The church would often lead the ceremony; prayers would be said and perhaps hymns sung. This was normally annually on Ascension Day or during Rogationtide.
A 1947 local newspaper article referred to Cheddleton Parish Council debating whether to revive custom after 41 years, so the latest date for this photograph is about 1906.