Old Boundary Marks

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 109, 10 May 1941, Page 7 (Supplement)

Old Boundary Marks

names as "Gospel Oak," or "Ash," "Hoarstone," "Warstock" and "Beggars' Bush." There is, probably, no single section of an ordnance map but has at least one "Gospel" name upon it. Much has been written on the subject of "hoarstones." The dictionary definition of "hoar" is white, or grey, with age. The typical boundarystone —a block of unhewn stone, frequently taken from a nearby quarry, set up against a hedgebank centuries ago and grey with lichen—is aptly described by the adjective. It is curious, however, that in course of the ages "hoar" has been applied, not only to stones, but to any object marking a boundary. More than that, "hoar" has in common speech been "corrupted" to "war,"- and we have .all sorts of legends and traditions attempting to explain the presence of "warstones" in unexpected localities. Thus, we have a story of quarrelling giants to account for the "hoarstone" from which Warstone Lane, in Birmingham, is named; of an unrecorded battle which gave Harborne its War Lane; and of a fight between Alfred the Great and the Danes in memory of which a "Warstock" was set up. "Harborn?" itself is merely "boundary brook."* Unhappily, few of the ancient hoarstones remain in position. Another of Sutton's boundary marks is the familiar "Beggars' Bush" at the junction of Chester Road and Jockey Road at Xew Oscott. It stands at the meeting place of two parishes—Perry Barr and Sutton—and of the counties of Stafford and Warwick. A story—common to all the "Beggars' Bushes" in the country—explains the name by relating how a tramp's body was found under its shade, "his head in one parish, his feet in the other," and how a long dispute arose as to which should bear the cost of the burial. Actually the name indicates the place at which overseers of one parish handed on "tramps, vagrants and vagabonds" passing through their area to the authorities of their neighbour's. Occasionally such disputes resulted in unexpected benefit to the worsted party. It is recorded that a question of parochial boundaries was being

There's a wealth of interest in Old England for him who will "seek and find," as is proved by this writer who here discusses boundary marks existing about Birmingham —Gospel Oaks, Hoarstones and Beggars' Bushes.

By J.H.

fought out by two adjoining parishes in Shropshire and that an"aged witness gave evidence that in his early days a pedlar found dead by the side of an old stone was buried at the expense of the Bettws parishioners. And this, being confirmed, was held to be proof that several hundred acres in dispute did actuallv belong to that parish. The stone is still there and is known as "Pedlar's Stone." Where Counties Meet Still more interesting are those somewhat rare spots where four counties meet. There are two such in the Midlands. The Four Shire Stone (a comparativelv modern pillar which has taken the place of a far more ancient "Warstone") stands at the meeting place of the counties of Oxford, Gloucester, Worcester and Warwick a little to the east of Moreton-in-the-Marsh. The counties of Derby. Leicester. Warwick and Stafford formerly mot at No Man's Heath (between Tamworth and Ashby), the exact spot being a hearthstone in the aptlv-named "Four Counties Inn." Whereas the great majority of our place names are Saxon there are some of earlier origin. Those of hills. rivers and other natural features are mainly Celtic (or pre-Celtic), and akin to similar names on the Continent. Thames is matched by Temes, a tributary of the Danube; Ouse is paired by the French Oise; Leicestershire, as well as France, has a Meuse, although the English version substitutes an "a" for the "u"; the relationship between the Swiss Aar and the Aire of Yorkshire and between Warwickshire's Arden and the Belgian Ardennes is very obvious.

One place name which occurs repeatedly in the Midlands is derived (so experts have told us) from a Celtic word for "boundary." Usually it appears as "Crick," though occasionally it is varied to "Crack." It is always associated with a border districtIt has been supgested that "Staple" and "Stable," elements in so many place names—Barnstaple, Dunstable amongst them—derives from "stapol"' —a pole set up (as at Drayton Bassett) to mark the limits of a manor. All the boundary marks I have discussed merely indicate a point leaving the actual line undefined. In quite a number of cases, however, it was felt necessary to mark the actual line of demarcation, and this was done either by mounds or trenches. The outstanding example is Offa's Dyke, a vast trench reaching from the Dee to the Wye made more than twelve centuries ago to divide Wales from Mercia. and still traceable almost from end to end.