THE ANCIENT ceremony of the beating of the bounds took place in Newport last Friday, August 23.

The ceremony took place on Friday after being postponed for a week because of bad weather.

Mayor, Tyrone Williams, and his son completed the route on horseback, accompanied by a band of walkers and riders.

The ancient ceremony was revived in 1964. Walkers and riders follow the barony flag on a nine-mile circuit taking in Bedd Morris boundary stone where a youth is ceremonially "beaten" by the mayor.

The group received their certificates for completing the ritual that evening.

The beating of the parish bounds ceremony is said to have originated in the fifth century. Young boys were traditionally beaten at certain boundary markers along the way so they would not forget where the boundaries lay.