Stone me ( tradition doesn't get any more bizarre than this.

Byline: By Hannah Davies

Hannah Davies speaks to a man who can trace back his ancestors 800 years, to the origins of an ancient Northumberland tradition.

A grown man being bumped on his bottom by a group of distinguished men and women is the spectacle to be seen on May 24 in a North coastal town.

`May Day' traditions exist all over the country, but there are few as bizarre as that of the dunting stone in Newbiggin-by-the-Sea.

Every year, as the clock strikes 9.30 on the morning of the Wednesday nearest May 28, the town's freeholders begin the `beating of the bounds' ritual, which began in 1235 following a charter from King John.

In days gone by, this event was a holiday and hundreds would turn up for it ( many dozens still do, to be handed nuts by the freeholders before they begin the ceremony.

Then the procession makes its way across Newbiggin Moor. The freeholders check their boundaries before the dunting ceremony begins at the dunting stone towards the north end of Newbiggin Golf Course.

Any newcomer to the freeholders' group is hoisted by its two oldest members, and others, and is `dunted'. The dunting, which means being bumped on the bottom, consists of lifting the newcomers by the feet and shoulders and placing them three times on the stone.

Although the dunting stone is not the original ( it has been replaced numerous times due to weathering and years of people being bumped on it ( its importance remains undiminished.

"It's not meant to hurt," laughs Gladstone Storey, 58, secretary of Newbiggin freeholders. "But there is always a small risk of it."

This year Simon Dawes from London will have the honour of being dunted. He's been passed the freeholder title by his godfather, who died last year. In the ceremony Gladstone, as secretary, will pronounce: "Oyez, Oyez, to all of you gathered here this day of the 53rd year of the reign of our sovereign lady Queen Elizabeth II.

"Mr Simon Dawes is to be initiated into the ancient Freeholders Lords of the Manor in the county of Northumberland according to our ancient customs and traditions from time immemorial.

"Let it be known here at the dunting stone, Mr Simon Dawes has been duly dunted and is granted the rights and privileges of the Lords of the Manor."

Following the ceremony, the procession will continue over Newbiggin Moor and down to Newbiggin Bay, where the shoreline is owned by the freeholders together with the crown.

The ceremony finishes at 11.30am when the freeholders will hold an annual general meeting.

The freeholders own 185 acres of land around Newbiggin. Originally they owned 500 acres but, over time, it's been sold off to various businesses including the coal-fired Alcan power station.

Privileges were first handed out to the 77 freeholders in 1235. Under the charter, they became owners of Newbiggin Moor and are joint owners of the foreshore with the Commission for Crown Land. For centuries the beating of the bounds duties were carried out on horseback and were accompanied by a piper.

Gladstone, a life-long resident of Newbiggin, can trace his forefathers in the town back to 1200. "That is not unusual in Northumberland," he explains. "For a very long time, people did not move from their villages so the records are simple to trace."

Gladstone was a baker in Newbiggin for 35 years at J R Storey and Sons, where his father worked before him. He is single with two sons, Campbell Storey, 30, a political researcher in London, and Gladstone junior, 28, a welder who lives in Ashington with his wife Gemma, 28, and three children, twins Abigail and Ethan, three, and Adam, 10 months.

Gladstone senior's many-times great-grandfather, Renner, was one of the original freeholders. Gladstone says: "The name is most likely a derivation from an old Norwegian name, Ragnar, dating from the Viking invaders.

"People did not move around as much in previous centuries but, today, like any North-East family, there are freeholders in Canada, America and New Zealand. The freeholders do not come here every year but most of the time they make the effort to come at least once."

Newbiggin Moor is divided into a number of stints, or plots, and each freeholder owns at least one stint. Today, Newbiggin Golf Club rents one section, and a caravan site another.

Gladstone was himself `dunted' in 1977, following the death of his father.

"Originally the freeholders were called freeledges, but over time the name changed," he adds.

"Freeholder status is fee simple, a legal term which means it can be passed easily, without going through courts, from a freeholder to their relations or associates at any stage.

"There is a very small financial benefit from being a freeholder, but that is not the point.

"It is to do with the honour of being a freeholder and carrying on a tradition which has been going strong from the time of King John."

* The beating of the bounds will take place on May 24 at 9.30am at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea.

The founding of Newbiggin is shrouded in the mists of time, but it seems certain the very latest it was founded was 100 years after the landing of William the Conqueror in 1066.

By an act of King John in 1204, it was provided for a fair to be held at Newbiggin for eight days from St Bartholomew's Day. This was granted to Hugh de Baliol, then the Lord of the Manor.

The rights of the freeholders were given in 1235 by King John. They paid a small rent to the Lord of the Manor for the right to own and work their lands.

In 1240 the township passed to John de Baliol, founder of Baliol College, Oxford. His third son John de Baliol became King of Scotland in allegiance with King Edward I of England.

After a revolt in 1296, De Baliol was forced to abdicate from the Scottish throne and was imprisoned. Edward handed his estates to John Dreux, Earl of Richmond. Since 1335 Newbiggin has been owned by its community of freeholders ( held by the king in Fee Farm Rent.

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Publication:	The Journal (Newcastle, England)
Date:	May 11, 2006
Words:	1025
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