Biking the Bounds.

Today, (22nd February), celebrates Beating the Bounds - a tradition dating back to Anglo-Saxon times. https://heritagehunter.co.uk/beating-the-bounds/. It involves beating parish boundaries with sticks. Instead, I planned to bike the bounds. Of Wandsworth. (Ed. With lockdown ending soon I hope this is the last of Ged's wacky solo rides!).

I'm sure cyclists have ridden the perimeters of their localities in the past. In London I could only find Tower Hamlets Wheelers doing so in December 2012. It provided a few clues.

Much of Wandsworth's historic boundary follows rivers - the Wandle, Graveney, Beverley Brook and Thames, as well as railway lines and roads: the boundary also wriggles across Commons and open spaces and sometimes even down narrow alleyways. Tricky to plan and follow! The borough borders with Lambeth to the east, Merton and Kingston to the south, Richmond to the west, and the R. Thames to the north. Cycling the boundaries was a good opportunity to stay local - i.e. an intra-borough ride. I went anti-clockwise. 

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/6314783109

Boundary river- the Wandle Trail at Earlsfield.

  The boundary of Wandsworth and Merton was reached  in 12 seconds - it's at the bottom of my street! The River Wandle then forms part of the boundary with Merton, and cycling the easy-to-follow Wandle Trail is familiar to most Wayfarers. 

  Then it was trying to find - and follow, the River Graveney, tucked away behind terraced houses. There's no trail, but before long the river (more a stream), emerged at Roe Bridge - bordering Tooting, Streatham and Mitcham. Inscriptions on the bridge revealed it's history: the first bridge was erected 1652, it was rebuilt many times, and a bronze plaque is inscribed with LCC - SCC: the river was the boundary between London and Surrey. 

Roe bridge. Portland stone block dating from 1652.

 

Roads running adjacent to railway lines forming the boundary were then cycled, before reaching muddy tracks across Tooting Common - and the boundary with Lambeth.

Onto Clapham Common, via LCN 5, the Wandsworth - Lambeth boundary snakes past the bandstand, and the La Baita cafe - a London Ride teashop. An historic marker post provided a handy bike stand!

 The R. Graveney - London - Surrey border.

  
Clapham Common boundary post.

Wix Lane, (above, with twin boundary posts) is a steep, narrow alleyway off Lavender Hill, is the border between Wandsworth and Battersea (Lambeth). These listed boundary posts date from the 1860's

The band's gaff- on the border.

Another narrow alleyway forming a boundary (alongside a cafe named after a cycling band?), is split down the middle. The cafe's in Battersea, (boundary post dated 1866), the wall opposite in Clapham (boundary post dated 1877).

Navigating the emerging mini-city of Nine Elms to the Thames wasn't easy. Re-routed cycle lanes and endless construction traffic make cycling hazardous. But once on the Thames Path it was a seven mile breeze to Putney and Wandsworth's next river boundary - with Richmond: the Beverely Brook.

As other Wayfarers have found The Beverley Brook Walk is rideable only in parts from the Thames to Richmond Park. It's a bit more scenic than the Wandle - as well as being a European Constituency Boundary. The Walk was very muddy for road-bike slicks through Palewell Park however, but once through Roehampton Gate it was smoother riding to Robin Hood Gate. Across the A3, the path, as expected was muddy in Wimbledon Common, but better towards the windmill and beyond, on tarmac.

The Thames Path - and Battersea Power Station.

The Beverley Brook - the fourth river boundary.

The last section of my boundary ride was back on my doorstep - Wimbledon Park, where the boundary splits the Park between Wandsworth and Merton.

Twenty six miles at a leisurely 10mph is perhaps the last of my lockdown perambulations. I'll have to get fit for proper Wayfarers A rides in a little-over a month's time!

Author: Ged Lawrenson

2 Comments:

Mark G 23 February 2021 at 10:19 GMT

Thanks, Ged - very interesting. It has awoken a childhood memory, forgotten until now, of Beating the Bounds when I was five or six. Our family church was St Johns, Aberdare, a very ancient church. I remember that the vicar led a group of parishioners from the church to a stone, and back, presumably for tea. I'm not sure about the tea, but I do remember going with my parents. My Grandfather spoke of the same thing at his childhood home in Grosmont, Monmouthshire.

Dave Vine 23 February 2021 at 22:04 GMT

Biking the Bounds appears to be an established cyclist tradition at least in London, though definitely a minority sport. Camden Cyclists do their Périphérique most years in Bike Week. More ambitiously, in 2010 a Kingston rider, Bryony Evens decided to ride the perimeter of all 33 London boroughs that year. This was an ambitious goal for someone working full time, and I’m not sure she has finished yet, but she did well enough, bagging around 20. Her website is still live, and you can read her accounts of each ride, with GPX’s at

https://livingadventurously.wordpress.com/

She looked for help from each LCC borough group, and I had the pleasure of devising and leading the Merton ride in July 2010. It’s only around 21 miles around, but there was lots of offroad, and more challenging than you might think. Merton’s boundaries are mostly away from urban centres, and I found places I hardly knew existed. We had 10 starters on my ride, but only 3 finished, thankfully including Bryony.

I repeated the ride a couple of weeks ago, during the cold weather when the muddy paths were frozen hard. I passed over Roe Bridge, without noticing its history, so thanks Ged for that, and for an engrossing report.