CELEBRATIONS to mark centenary of Minchinhampton Common continue this month with a Beating of the Bounds.

There will be five organised walks on the morning of Sunday, 25 August, covering the common’s six mile boundary.

Afterwards volunteers from the National Trust, which has owned and cared for the common since 1913, have arranged folk music and children’s activities including kite flying, a treasure hunt and fossil discovery at the Reservoir.

Beating the Bounds is an ancient custom which saw communities, usually led by priests, walk the edge of their parishes before they had maps.

"These walks will take people to parts of the common they don’t normally go to," said Terry Robinson, chairman of the National Trust’s voluntary Minchinhampton and Rodborough Common Advisory Committee.

The walks are the next in a series of 100 years of Caring events following a successful evening of talks at Stroud Sub Rooms in May.

A special display at Minchinhampton Country Fair in September and an exhibition of art inspired by the common in October will follow.

Beating of the Bounds will also coincide with a three-day display of the common’s history by Amberley Archive Group at Amberley Parish Rooms over the bank holiday weekend.

Anne Seymour, of the archive group, said: "The exhibition covers the whole history of the common from ancient time until the present.

"We have learnt a lot, for instance we didn’t know about our own special dinosaur, the only one of its kind whose remains are now in the Natural History Museum in London."

For more information go to www.nationaltrust.org.uk/minchinhampton-and-rodborough-commons.