Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 January 1911 — Curious Old Rule Recalled. [ARTICLE]

Curious Old Rule Recalled.

Most of Walthamstow is too modern to have much mystery about it, but the “Walthamstow Strip” of Leyton preserves the memory of a curious old rule. Barely a hundred yards broad, this strip of land, belonging to Walthamstow parish, ran right across Leyton from the to Snaresbrook, parallel with the southern border of Walthamstow. How came Leytoh to be crossed by tlfls alien strip? Leyton, It was said, had once refused to bury a body in the Lea; Walthamstow came forward to do it. And in such cases it was the rule that the volunteering parish might take from the other as much land right through to the other side as the men who carried the corpse could cover walking in line, hand in hand and arms extended. The inconvenient result worried both parishes until the growth of population made new parishes necessary. —London Chronicle.