Ilmington Morris Men dancing at Ilmington Manor on Gardens Day 9th April 2000
A new official web page for the Ilmington Morris Men had been set up here.
The Ilmington Morris Badge
Welcome to the Home Page of the Traditional Ilmington Morris Men.
The Ilmington Morris Men are based in the South Warwickshire village of Ilmington and dance some of the traditional Morris dances collected in and around Ilmington during the last hundred years. We practice on Wednesday evenings in Ilmington Village Hall during the winter and dance around the local villages and towns on Wednesday evenings in the Summer.
The Morris Side is available to do bookings in the area - please contact the Bagman, Paul Bryan, on 01608-682360 or by e-mail.
The Morris Men are to be seen dancing in the village every year on Gardens Day, when eight or more of the village gardens are open to the public as part of the National Gardens Scheme, and we dance by or in all the open gardens, normally starting at the Manor House. We generally invite a guest side for this occasion, usually another traditional Cotswold side. The date for this event varies, recently it has been about the first Sunday in April. We also try to be at the Ilmington Flower Show on the village playing fields on August Bank Holiday Monday.
We extend a warm welcome to any morris man, experienced or beginner, who would like to join us. Come to the Village Hall on a Wednesday evening 8.30 -10.00 or contact the bagman (secretary), Paul Bryan by e-mail or on 01608 682360 or the squire, Jim Chapman on 01386 438400.
Ilmington Morris Men dancing "Maid of the Mill" at the Silkeborg Ring Meeting in Denmark in August 1996. (Photograph thanks to Paul Woods of Bristol Morris Men)
There are about twenty dances from Ilmington, of which many go back to the nineteenth century. The basis of the tradition is the work of Cecil Sharp and Mary Neal in the first twenty years of this century who collected from many sources including Sam Bennett in Ilmington. This was extended by other collectors, and published by the Morris Ring in Lionel Bacon's 'Black Book' which reflects both the modern Morris Ring style of Ilmington and some other interesting variations. The best known of these dances is the linked handkerchief dance 'Maid of the Mill'.
The current Ilmington Morris Men were formed in 1974 and soon made contact with 'Fiddler' Sturch of Shipston-on-Stour who had played for an Ilmington side early in the century. Mr Sturch taught us both the distinctive style of our figures and some tunes and dances, for example, the tune used for the modern dance 'Sturch's Piece' composed by the side in his memory after he died in 1980.
Another dance with an interesting history is the Broom Dance, performed by one man with a household broom to the 'Greensleeves' tune. This was taught by Sam Bennett to Arnold Woodley of Bampton, probably during a period in the 20's or 30's when Sam Bennett played for one of the Bampton sides, and was performed regularly by Arnold's side. When Arnold discovered that there was a new side in Ilmington he made a point of teaching us the dance and ensuring its return to its 'native heath'. This dance is thought to have originated in the neighbouring village of Blackwell.
Perhaps one of the earliest known dates for the composition of a Morris Dance is that of the Ilmington stick dance 'The Jubilee'. It was composed for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 1897.
Roy Dommett has published some notes under the heading 'Innovative Ilmington' which contain some of the less well known styles and dances that have been collected. This already contains one dance which was worked up in the early days of the revival side in the 1970's - what it is to be part of the living tradition!
The Ilmington Morris Men are always prepared to run instructional workshops to teach the Ilmington dances.
Sam Bennett was a fiddler and morris dancer (famously, at the same time - he would dance a jig and play simultaneously) who spent his life in Ilmington. He lived in 'The Fox House', a small cottage opposite the village hall which has a crude outline of a fox carved in the wooden panel over the door. He was born in 1866, died in 1951, and is buried in the village churchyard.
Both Cecil Sharp and Mary Neal collected from him, although Sharp, at least, did not seem to have much time for him. He taught several revivals of Morris in the area, the last being a team of schoolgirls in Stratford just after the second war. As a fiddler, he was in demand over a wide area, and certainly played for the Morris in Bampton-in-the-Bush at one time.
In 1899 Sam Bennett had the horse made which we still use. It was preserved in the village by the Village School, I believe, during the period before the current side was started. I gather that this is the only traditional horse with close connections to Traditional Morris.
The modern side have composed a dance in his memory called 'The Keeper', danced to the tune of the well-known folk-song which was originally sung by Sam.
A piece of research by the late Roy Judge in the 2001 Journal of the EFDSS throws more light on this period as it covers the collecting of Morris by Sharp in 1909. See the next section for more details.
We have recently come upon the tradition from Stretton-on-the-Fosse, about four or five miles south of Ilmington. These dances were collected by Cecil Sharp in 1909 at Stretton and details are to be found in his field notes and in the typescript 'Folk Words'. This was spotted by Paul Davenport when he was organising the Morris Ring Archives some twenty years ago, and he wrote it up and attempted to reconstruct the dances. Inspired by this, we have had another go at the reconstruction, and have found that Lionel Bacon in the 'Black Book' came to much the same conclusions as us, and published them as another version of Ilmington, the 1906 CSS Ms version. This is probably why the dances has been ignored so far. The dances are closely connected to Ilmington and Sam Bennett - among them are a version of 'Maid of the Mill' which has the horse and fool process down the set under arches made by the dancers' linked handkerchieves - and the horse provides a close link with Sam.
A piece of research by the late Roy Judge in the 2001 Journal of the EFDSS throws more light on this as it covers the collecting of Morris by Sharp in 1909. This suggests that this was the Sam Bennett side dancing at the Stretton Flower Show that Sharp saw there. We also now have a copy of the log of the Oxford University Morris Men on Tour - 'The Ancient Men' - of their visit to Ilmington in 1959 when they interviewed and danced for Jack Cook who was a dancer for Sam in the 1907-9 period. This visit was inspired by the publication of a photograph taken in about 1907 of the side and published in a Birmingham Sunday newspaper in 1958, and later spotted on a piece of that newspaper used for packing. Thanks for this to the Oxford Men.
Ilmington Morris Men at the Fox House in Ilmington, Sam Bennett's home on Ilmington Gardens Day, 9th April 2000. Photo - Steve Felton and Jane Chapman
The modern side was started in 1974 largely with men with connections with the village, or from Shipston-on-Stour. There has been quite a bit of change since then, and the only remaining founder member is Paul Bryan, whose mother still lives in Ilmington. The village has become something of a weekend retreat, but we still have two men who live in Ilmington, and most of the rest live in Shipston and the surrounding villages. Some of the more recent recruits come from further afield, however. After many years as an associate member of the Morris Ring of England, the club was invited to become a full member in 2001 and danced in at the Thaxted Ring Meeting in June 2002.
The kit is derived from descriptions of the old side, with a Gold and Blue baldrick, the colours being those of the Ilmington and Tysoe Friendly Societies, grey cord trousers, (dark cloth in old descriptions), a white shirt, and a grey top hat, this being a departure from the old records which specify a cricket cap. The revival side originally wore decorated straw hats. We also wear blue and gold bell pads and arm bands, and a red spotted neckerchief. The baldrick carries a crest in the centre derived from the old village school badge.
Ilmington Morris Men dancing at the Bancroft Gardens in Stratford-upon-Avon in August 1986
Photo Frank Selby
Dancing at Dawn on Ilmington Down - May Day 2001
photo - Steve Mitchell
I shall not attempt to provide a comprehensive list of links to Morris-related pages on the Web, as it is being done very effectively elsewhere, in particular by the Morris Ring of England and by Jeff Bigler and the Morris Dancing Wiki in the USA.
The Morris Federation has a home page as does the Open Morris.
Visit Nick Oliver's home page
Created 11th October 1996. Last Updated 2nd January 2014