WYTHALL walkers honoured an ancient tradition by taking part in the 'beat the parish bounds' walk recently.
Residents and councillors met at the Coach and Horses pub, on Weatheroak Hill, to walk either the 14-mile or four-mile route along the village boundaries.
The tradition is thought to have started in medieval times when village folk walked in procession on Ascension Day to define the parish boundary, stopping along the route to pray for good crops.
Villagers then beat boundary marks with willow wands, sometimes also beating young boys to try to force them to remember the boundaries.
Wythall Councillor Roy Pearson restarted the tradition in 1989, 50 years after the last Beating the Bounds was recorded.
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