St Albans' 698th annual 'Beating the Bounds' celebration to take place
The custom sees residents and visitors join the town's Mayor for a 4.5mile walk along the city's perimeter
Residents and visitors are expected to join a centuries-old civic tradition today as the Mayor of St Albans City and District, Councillor Jamie Day, leads the historic Beating the Bounds ceremony.
The event, which dates back to 1327, involves a symbolic walk tracing the ancient 4.5-mile boundary of the City.
The procession will begin at 2pm at the puddingstone outside Kingsbury Mill in St Michael’s Village, and is expected to take around two hours.
Open to people of all ages, the ceremony features participants using willow wands to beat the ground at key points along the route — a ritual that once served as a way for communities to pass down knowledge of the City's limits and assert civic rights.
Mayor Jamie Day said: "I have been looking forward to this occasion since becoming Mayor last year, and it will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of my civic year.
"Beating the Bounds is a wonderful event, open to everyone, and I would urge people to join us. Not only will we be connecting with our past, but we will also have a lot of fun along the way."
Assisting the Mayor in the ceremony will be town crier Stephen Potter and the Mayor’s Macebearer Megan Seiorse.
Beating the Bounds commemorates an act of defiance in 1327, when 24 townspeople walked the boundary to assert their freedoms in response to a rebellion against the authority of the local abbot.
Their actions laid the foundation for a tradition that has endured for nearly 700 years.
Everyone who completes the walk will receive a special Beating the Bounds certificate.