2l8 PROC. COTTESWOLD CLUB vol. xiii. (3) 



Scotch and Irish term is rig ; the word dale is also used ; 

 the system being thus termed the "run-rig" or "run-dale" 

 system, implying that cattle were allowed to run over the 

 ridges, dales, or divided strips, after Lammas Day, August i. 



Among the above terms " dale " may be the same as 

 "dole," meaning a portion, from Anglo-Saxon dealan to 

 divide — cp. " deal," a piece of timber cut off from the 

 larger piece called the " balk " ; hence also " run-rig," 

 conventionally to run riot (cp. proper name Rundell). 



The term " balk " is found in Shakespeare, denoting a 

 heap or ridge. We read 



" Ten thousand bold Scots — two and twenty knights 

 Balked in their own blood, did Sir Walter see." 

 I. King Henry IV., 1,1. 



Locally, "to balk plough" or "to rafter" is to plough 

 so as to turn each furrow on to an unploughed piece, thus 

 laying the field out like a series of rafters | |__( |_J | 



We also find these terms in the Homilies of the Church 

 of England in " An exhortation to be spoken to such 

 Parishes where they use their Perambulation in Rogation 

 Week for the oversight of the bounds and limits of their 

 town." 



When the bounds were thus beaten by the sul)Stantial 

 men of the parish, the Curate was directed to admonish 

 the people at different stations — to give thanks to God 

 and say Psalm ciii. In records of the Upton Perambula- 

 tions it is stated that the Gospel was read and crosses were 

 made.* Archbishop Winchelsea's Constitutions, c. 1300, 

 confirmed by Henry VIII., order the Parish to provide 

 Vexilla pro rogationibus. At Todenham this custom is 

 said still to prevail. 



* There i^ a tree marking a place in Upton referred to in former surveys ot the 

 parish as "Gospel Beech," and another as "Gospel Oak." 



