BBC Staffordshire Features - Horn Dance at Abbots Bromley

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27 November 2009
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Abbots Bromley Horn Dance

Abbots Bromley's Goats Head pub (the b&w building in the background) is a backdrop to the dance

Alistair was sent to the south Staffordshire village of Abbots Bromley to research the very ancient and very strange annual village tradition known as The Horn Dance.

He's not quite sure what hit him...

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Abbots Bromley Website
The village website

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Welcome to a new dimension. One of extraordinary sights, and equally strange sounds, and dancing in a very strange manner.
Do not adjust your computer screen, what you are soon to read is true!

Well, it’s not quite that dramatic, but I was certainly overcome by chants of “You What???” when someone mentioned to me the legend that is the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance!
Strange as it sounds, this actually exists.

History
The Horn Dance, so called because the dancers carry deers' antlers, was first performed at Barthelmy Fair in the Staffordshire village of Abbots Bromley in 1226, and despite the obscurity of the concept, it’s still going 777 years later.
Dancers

Even more impressive is the fact that, as far as records confirm, it’s only been cancelled once (in the 1920s).
And that was only because one of the dancers had died and the musician was ill!

...and this is what they do...
The dance consists of a number of morris-type dancers (chosen from among the village population) - in the roles of six deer men, a hobby horse, a bowman, and Maid Marian.
The dancers follow a 10 mile course and perform the ritual in 12 different locations in and around the village, whilst the musician plays tunes such as “The Farmers Boy” and “Uncle Mick” on a melodeon, with accompaniment from a triangle.

---------- Abbots Bromley church

The horns are kept at Abbots Bromley Church 364 days of the year

The deer men spend 12 hours wearing sets of antlers that range in weight from 16lb of the lightest, to a whopping 25lb (a stone and a half!) for the Leader’s Horns.
How they have shoulders left at the end of the day is beyond me!

Incidentally, the horns haven’t changed since that very first Wakes Monday parade.

Family tradition
The recent history of the event is surprising to say the least.

Since the early 1800s, Abbots Bromley inhabitants, the Fowell family, have had the honour bestowed upon it of providing the lead deer man.
He then selects the other dancers from the locals.

In days gone by, only family members were involved in the dance, and to some extent, that tradition is kept up.

...but what's it all mean?
Who knows?
Nobody has really got a handle on it, except to say there's got to be a fertility thing going on, hasn't there?
There usually is!
If anybody's got a theory, would they e-mail us?

2003
This year’s event takes place on Monday 8th September, and is sure to pack out the village. In the past, tourists from as far afield as Indonesia and Canada have viewed the spectacle, and more of the same is almost certain.
So why not give it a try yourself?

Alistair B

Thanks to Eric Roy for use of his photos

and....
A Strange Abbots Bromley Fact (as if there weren't enough....!)
Dick Turpin, the famous 18th century highwayman, has a room named after him at the village's Goat's Head pub.
Apparently, this was done after he tried to steal horses at Rugeley Horse Fair and spent the night at the Goat after his escapade...