This news magazine item on Morpeth Boundary Riding was broadcast in Tyne Tees Television’s Today at Six, their first colour regional news programme, which started in 1969. It was superseded by Northern Life, which ran on weekday evenings from 6 September 1976 to 2 October 1992 and adopted a light hearted approach to nightly news magazine coverage. Tyne Tees reporters blazed a trail in presenting the news over the years. Mike Neville, a much-loved face of TV news in the north east for more...

This news magazine item on Morpeth Boundary Riding was broadcast in Tyne Tees Television’s Today at Six, their first colour regional news programme, which started in 1969. It was superseded by Northern Life, which ran on weekday evenings from 6 September 1976 to 2 October 1992 and adopted a light hearted approach to nightly news magazine coverage. Tyne Tees reporters blazed a trail in presenting the news over the years. Mike Neville, a much-loved face of TV news in the north east for more than 40 years who launched his broadcast career with Tyne Tees, once suggested that the launch of Tyne Tees enabled local people to be able to hear local accents and dialects on television where once the BBC’s standard cut-glass pronunciation was the norm.

This type of news segment was perfect for the local interests of Tyne Tees Television which began in 1959, broadcast from a disused warehouse in City Road on Newcastle’s historic quayside, transformed into state-of-the-art studios. A quarter of a million viewers watched on the first night. They broadcast from this base for more than 45 years until the studios shut down in 2005.

In time, the station aimed to create a portrait of the north-east, “a land of wide skies, bent vowels, saints, footballers, shipyards and an inventive tradition which has produced the finest engineers in England: its landscape swings from wild moorland to industrial cities and back again to the sea-fretted coast of Northumberland, Durham and North Yorkshire” as author Antony Brown eulogizes in his book Tyne Tees Television: the first 20 years, a portrait (1978) “The north-east is as far as you can go from the centres of power in southern England”. Many of the Tyne Tees documentaries sprang from these regional roots.

By all accounts, the early years at Tyne Tees were ‘cheerfully haphazard’, seat-of-the-pants television that ranged from local talent on live variety shows, with a shade of the ‘end-of-the-pier’ about them, to serious politics, history and sports. One old City Road hand described the experience as hectic, like ‘being on a switchback ride’. Programming could swing from slick to amateurish in one night.

Certainly in this clip we see some well-planned shots and nothing amateur. Shots of steam rising from the horses and the pipe band walking towards the camera are well timed. The vantage point of the camera in the opening sequence gives the audience a sense of the sheer number of riders as they fill the main street of Morpeth in preparation for walking around the bounds.  The interview with the Chief Marshal Bob Rutherford who had been doing the ride every year for 38 years, explains that there are many ‘stops’ on the slow ride around the parish, code of course for the drinking of alcohol. We hear from Bob that making it around the whole boundary is quite an achievement as some make too many ‘stops’, which bring a wry smile from the man standing beside him and no doubt the viewers watching.

Independent television was introduced to Britain in September 1955. This was initially only available in the London region, but the Independent Television Authority (ITA) decided to spread it steadily to other regions when the first ITV companies were facing financial difficulties; with the North East being the last region to receive it. When it came to naming Tyne Tees Television, several suggestions came up but were rejected: North East England (too imprecise), Three Rivers Television (too obscure), and Tyne, Wear, and Tees (too long). Ultimately, Tyne Tees Television was the successful name, and it was named after two of the region’s three primary rivers. The channel was launched on the 15th of January in 1959 and acted as the ITV television franchise for the North East of England and parts of North Yorkshire. In 1969, the company shortened its name to Tyne Tees for the next 27 years where it then changed to Channel 3 North East before changing back to its previous name in 1998. It changed its name for a final time in 2004 before the analogue signal was turned off in 2012 for the Tyne Tees region. 

Traditions such as ‘riding of the bounds’ were important in Britain. They are focused on beliefs, practices, customs, and other cultural elements such as ethnic or social grouping. Boundary riding, also known as ‘beating the bounds’ is an old calendar custom probably dating from the fifth century. Though the origin of the tradition is unknown, it is speculated that it was introduced around 470 AB by the Holy Bishop Mametus in Vienne, France. It is also speculated that the Anglo-Saxon custom was derived from the Roman Terminalia who was mentioned in the laws of Alfred the Great and Æthelstan. The festival was held on the 22nd of February and it honoured the God of Landmarks, Terminus, who would receive offerings such as cakes and wines while people danced and played sports at the boundaries. The custom is also similar to practices of pagan origin, which were brought over by the Norsemen when they started their settlements in Britain. The initial intent for ‘beating the bounds’ was to give thanks to God and to ask for the blessing of their boundaries. The tradition was performed annually around Ascension Day, which is the commemoration of Jesus’ ascent into Heaven. Ascension Day takes place every 40 days after Easter and it is always on a Thursday.

During the boundary ride, the boundaries of a church parish would be marked by marching around them while hitting the ground with large sticks. Often local children would carry willow wands to beat the boundary markers with, and in some cases children even had their heads bumped on the boundary stones to make sure they always remembered their allegiances. Nowadays this custom is still a tradition but without the serious checks (or head bumping) and is more a way for a particular community to come together, celebrate their town and imbibe some alcohol on the way. Here we see some of the expected local pomp with a large group of horse riders in their tweeds and red jacketed finery, being led by the pipe band.

Different regions, such as Kent, Dorset, Lancashire, Northumberland, Staffordshire, and Yorkshire, took on other customs.  In Berwick on Tweed, they started the ‘May Day Ride the Bounds’ annually since Henry VII reign, and they rode for ten miles. During Henry VII’s reign, the post-riding celebration would get a little out of hand and they were often condemned for their carousing behaviour. The post-ride celebrations were held in England and there would be parish ale and a feast for all of the participants. This assured the popularity of the boundary rides. As we've heard, there’s more than an allusion to drinking as part of the tradition in this 70s news piece. Beating the bounds was a common custom in England, Scotland and Wales and is still celebrated at various locations including London, but the practicality of the tradition is obsolete since the introduction of mapping, literacy and other modern developments.

However, there are many more calendar folk traditions over the country. For instance, at Allendale in Northumberland, there is a New Year tradition called the Tar Bar’l festival, which dates back to 1884. For this, men would wear homemade fancy dress, referred to as a “guise”, and carry flaming barrels of tar in the streets. They would then light a bonfire at midnight to welcome in the New Year. Similarly to beating the bounds, the tradition still takes place.

More film of calendar traditions at NEFA:

http://www.yorkshirefilmarchive.com/film/allendale-celebrates-new-year-1978-79 

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITV_Tyne_Tees#Launch_and_the_1960s

https://www.eionet.europa.eu/gemet/en/concept/10078

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beating_the_bounds#Origins

http://www.englandinparticular.info/calendar/c-rogtide.html

http://www.wshc.eu/blog/item/beating-the-bounds-a-parish-tradition.html

https://www.rapper.org.uk/history.html

https://www.buzzfeed.com/matthewtucker/the-strangest-british-traditions