Border Morris

The tradition & historical record

Border Morris is a collection of individual local dances from villages along the English side of the Wales–England border in the counties of Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire. They are part of the Morris dance tradition. ¹

Border morris dances are village dances performed for enjoyment and fundraising, often during winter. They usually include three to twelve dancers. Some of the earliest accounts of a border morris tradition are provided by E. C. Cawte. There is reference to questions about "any disguised persons, as morice dancers, maskers, or mum'ers" to St. Mary's Parish Church in Shrewsbury in 1584 and an amazing account of morris dancers at Hereford races in 1609, describing "two musicians, four whifflers, and twelve dancers, including hobby horse and maid marian", all from villages within 14 miles (23 km) of Hereford. The account claimed, "Hereford-shire for a morris-daunce puts downe, not onely all Kent, but verie neare (if one had line enough to measure it) three quarters of Christendome". Cawte quotes further accounts describing complaints to the local magistrates about disruptive morris dancers in Longdon, Worcestershire, disrupting the Sabbath day from 1614 to 1617 and another account of dancers in Much Wenlock in 1652, causing a disturbance in an ale house at Nordley. Later records from Shrewsbury mention payment to the "Bedlam Morris" in 1688 and 1689. The dance depends on the numbers available, as at Brimfield. The dances collected from a particular place sometimes differ quite markedly between informants, as at White Ladies Aston, reflecting the flexibility from year to year. Sometimes a gang would only have one dance, sometimes two, or as at Malvern and Pershore an indeterminate set of figures. ¹

The common features are the rather short sticks and sometimes a stick and handkerchief version of the same dance, also usually a high single step akin to the local country dance step. ¹

In the 1960s, E.C. Cawte, the folklorist, proposed that these dances from the English side of the Welsh borders – Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire – constituted a Welsh border tradition. ¹

Since the 1960s and with further collecting in the 1970s by people such as Dave Jones (late of Silurian Morris, founded 1969, and later the Not For Joes) and Keith Francis (of Silurian Morris) a distinctive border morris style has grown. The tradition is characterised by black faces, tattered shirts or coats, much stick-clashing and a big band traditionally comprising melodeons, fiddles, concertinas, triangles and tambourines, although they now often also feature a tuba or sousaphone, and flute or oboe. Under the guidance of Dave Jones and Keith Francis, Silurian Border Morris sought to interpret the collected dance material, preserving as much of the traditional styles and features as can be deduced. By contrast, in 1975, John Kirkpatrick created a new border tradition with the Shropshire Bedlams, which seeks to capture the spirit of the border sides, but not recreate any specific tradition or dance. Their dances feature much "whooping" and this has become characteristic amongst many other border sides. The Ironmen ( est 1976 ) were another side heavily involved in the 70s revival, their look and style has a more industrial feel and they are one of only two border sides know to dance in clogs. Gordon Ashman and other founder members carried out research around the county of Shropshire, along with several trips to London to visit Cecil Sharp collection. Their style is based on the quarry men, miners and Iron workers that lived and worked in the villages and towns of Shropshire such as Ironbridge, Broseley, Much Wenlock. ¹

Anderida Border Morris: Mixed group based in the South East region. Anoymous Morris. A large, high-energy, Border Morris team based in Poole. Beltane Border Morris: Mixed side performing in the West and South West, based in Devon. Black Pig Border Morris: Mixed team located in the East Midlands. Blackpowder Morris: Mixed side from the South East. Bocastle Border Morris Bollin Morris: Mixed side performing in Wales and the North West. Brixton Tatterjacks: Mixed side active in the South East. Erstwhile Border Morris: Mixed team based in the West Midlands. Fishbone Ash: Mixed side located in the South East. Grimspound Border Morris. Formed around a pub table in Combeinteignhead in 1994 Happenstance Border Morris: Mixed group in the West/South West performing border and mummers traditions. Motley Morris: Men's side based in the South East. Mucky Mountains Morris: Mixed side operating in Wales and the North West. Otter Border Morris: Energetic mixed side based in East Devon. The Shropshire Bedlams: The historic side credited with kick-starting the modern Border Morris revival in the 1970s Steampunk Border Morris. A mixed Morris side based in Rochester, Kent. The first specifically Steampunk themed side. Wolf's Head & Vixen Gothic Morris. A mixed Gothic Morris side based in the Medway and Maidstone areas of Kent. Formed in 1993 Wreckers Border Morris A mixed Border side based in St Dominick, Cornwall. We dance traditional and many original dances inspired by Cornwall's rich heritage ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Border Morris”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Border Morris is collection of individual local dances, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 1 external register, which can be verified through the citation. ²