“Beating the bounds” refers to an ancient custom, observed in parts of England, Wales and Germany, that involves touring local landmarks and swatting them with branches or sticks to maintain a shared mental map of parish boundaries. During such an event, a group of citizens from a community, parish or political community, would walk along the geographic boundaries of their locality in order to share, reconstruct and maintain a mental memory and map of the precise location of these boundaries. In some locations, such traditional ritual walks are still held, yet are imbued with new meanings. While contemporary surveying and cartographic methods have changed, and such customs are no longer required to preserve political divisions, this experience of walking that builds a shared sense of community remains relevant as an ethnographic research method.