Thanks again, Stan and Geoff. I like your logic, Geoff! I'd imagined 'Cranford'-style parsimony and tight-lipped disapproval of such frivolities would have prevailed at that time, but Stan has quoted in his latest post from the same 1837 record that prompted my original questions, and it seems that the whole business of 'Beating of the Bounds' was an excuse for a very jolly occasion. I now have visions of revelry similar to Mayday celebrations taking place, with mounds of bread and cheese, followed by cakes and ale galore, with pots a-jingling and lively jigs performed on village greens! I don't suppose these events still take place? If not, perhaps they should be revived. Mary O