"The dancers met me, I remember, one dull, wet afternoon in mid-winter, in an ill-lighted upper room of a wayside inn. They came straight from the fields in their working clothes, sodden with rain, and danced in boots heavily weighted with mud to the music of a mouth organ... The depression which not unnaturally lay heavily upon us all at the start was, however, as by a miracle dispelled immediately the dance began, and they gave me as fine an exhibition of Morris dancing as it has ever been my good fortune to see. "
The words quoted above were written by the famous folk-dance collector Cecil Sharp after seeing the Eynsham Morris at the Railway Inn in Eynsham (a small, ancient market town five miles west of Oxford) in 1908. Sharp rarely saw a full side of traditional dancers perform together, as most villages had long abandoned their dances by his time. Not so Eynsham. Documentary proof of the dancing tradition preserved by the village goes back to 1856, when at Whitsun 'on the Wednesday some of the villagers entertained the inhabitants with morris dancing'. From the memories of one old dancer, Joseph Evans, whose forefathers had danced, we can reasonably infer a continuous tradition of Morris dancing going back to the first half of the last century. In the eighteenth century Eynsham regularly held a Lamb or Whitsun Ale; Morris dancers were invariably an important element on such occasions, so it is probable that Eynsham Morris represents a tradition well over 250 years old.
From the end of the last century there are regular newspaper and other reports of dancing at Whitsun and Christmastide. The antiquary Percy Manning noted the members of the side in 1902 as: Edward Russell ('Feathers'), William Russell ('Buff'), Horace Belcher, Ernest May, Charles Masters ('Clemmie Hedges'), Henry Hedges, George Masters, Fred Harwood and Ben Ayres. In the winter the dancers usually performed a mummers' play as well as dancing. 'We did all the big houses, Eynsham Hall, Blenheim Palace ... we had to walk,' said the last survivor of the pre-World War I side. They sometimes used a donkey as pack-animal on these tours. It was on a trip to Blenheim that they were seen by the artist William Nicholson, who painted a set of pictures of the side and its foreman Feathers Russell. Feathers made half a dozen trips to Woodstock to sit for them, for a sovereign a time. One of these paintings is reproduced here
Here is how Max Beerbohm described one
Woodstock performance:
'The first dance was in full swing when
I approached. Only six of the men were dancers. Of the others,
one was the "minstrel", the other the
"dysard". The "minstrel" was playing a flute; and the "dysard"
I knew by the wand and leathern bladder
which he brandished as he walked around, keeping a space for
the dancers, and chasing and buffeting
merrily any man or child who ventured too near ... I was told
that the wife or sweetheart of every dancer
takes special pains to deck her man out more gayly than his
fellows. But ... so bewildering was the amount
of brand-new bunting attached to all these eight men that no
matron or maiden could for the life of her
determine which was the most splendid of them all.'
(For the full text of his article 'A Morris for May-Day', as reprinted in his Yet again, but without the pictures, see http://www.bookrags.com/books/ytagn/PART14.htm. Thanks to Chris Little for drawing this to my attention.)
During this period there was a boys' side as well as a men's side, and this strength probably helped the side to survive World War I. During the War the mummers' play continued to be performed, and some Morris also. Regular dancing began again very quickly after the War with Lady Mason of Eynsham Hall providing the material for the first set of new smocks. In 1924 more smocks were made by Ada Gardner, daughter of Fred Harwood, who was then foreman of the side. 'You use to hear my father shout "cross" or "round" or whatever; he used to start the dance and then when he knew that the steps was right, they went round or crossed. He was a soldier, he could shout.'
Music was supplied by a simple fiddle, and a three-foot midget named Billy Betterton often acted as fool or 'bladder-man' in the twenties. But Ada Gardner recalls 'I know one year they couldn't get a side together and that's when it flopped, 'cause the youngsters wouldn't pick it up.' Sid Russell wrote in 1937 that 'the smocks we had seven years ago have gone', so the break probably came around 1930. Although public displays certainly stopped for a time, the dancers apparently got together occasionally for 'private shows'; Lottie Pimm remembers their dancing in the family's shop every year up to the outbreak World War II.
In 1935 a children's Morris side turned out for the Silver Jubilee of George V. The team learned Morris from Sharp's books, except for the Eynsham dance Brighton Camp which the Russell family taught them. 'All the Russells could dance automatically, it was in the blood'.
In 1937 men began practising together under Sid Russell. They danced out for George Vl's Coronation on 12 May 1937, the team then being Buff Russell (74 years old and still dancing), his sons Sid, Bert and Cecil; Arthur, Perce and Phil Lambourne, Jack Drewitt, end Ern Edwards (who also played for the Morris in the twenties) on mouth-organ and melodeon. The Travelling Morrice from Cambridge visited the team on 26 June 1937, and the two teams danced in the Square. As usual, the vigour of Eynsham's dancing impressed; one of the visitors wrote, 'The dancing was an absolutely exhilarating sight and the step most vigorous. There is no feeling of decadence about the Eynsham dancing.'
As the smocks had gone, the side's costume consisted simply of a sash, the bell pads and what have become known as 'Anzac' hats, over ordinary clothes.
During the revival the side was drawn more into the general 'folk dance revival', dancing at meetings of Morris sides at Abingdon, and once going to dance at the headquarters of the English Folk Dance and Song Society in London. But in the end dissension within the group about altering the dances, and other matters, had the result that the side stopped dancing out in public in 1939.
Although there was no more dancing in public, there were still many men in the village who knew the dances, and they met and danced occasionally after World War II, although not in costume. Sid Russell continued to train boys' sides at the school, teaching the Brighton Camp and Figure Eight dances. The Foreman of the current side, Keith Green, learned these dances in 1952; the 1953 side danced in public for the Queen's Coronation.
Sid Russell continued to encourage the village youngsters in the hope that one day an adult Eynsham side would dance again, but sometimes despairing of ever seeing it. Keith Green, who by then often went to see Sid and chat with him, finally decided to try to revive the Eynsham Morris, encouraged by the presence in the village of others with folk-song and dance interests. An inaugural meeting was called for 2 October 1979 in the clubroom of the Red Lion, made available by the kindness of the long-serving landlord Frank Harris and Auntie, his wife. All eight who attended were Eynsham residents, and residence or birth in Eynsham is still a requirement for membership. More men soon joined, making the revival viable. Dave Townsend, who taught the side, investigated afresh all the sources, written as well as verbal. Every effort was made to talk to as many former dancers as possible, including Sid Russell. Although he was delighted at the prospect of the revival, sadly, he died before the first public performance of the new side. All the dances were demonstrated before dancers from the twenties and thirties for their approval, and their corrections incorporated in the dances. Some of the figures now danced are named after those who described them to the side. For its costume the side returned to the traditional smocks, breeches, top hats and hob- nailed boots.
The first public performance of the revived side was on the May Day Bank Holiday, 5 May 1980. Starting from outside the Red Lion, the side proceeded to dance round the village, stopping (of course!) at all the pubs. The hosts for the day were, and continued for some years to be, the Eynsham Ladies, who regularly did country dances in the village on May Day in aid of the Cystic Fibrosis Research Fund. The revived side has never looked back, and has rapidly gained a reputation as one of the most colourful and flamboyant (and noisy!) Morris sides in existence. The old vigour, so often remarked upon in the past, has not been forgotten.
The side dances frequently between May and September, most often in company with other Morris teams. Most of the dancing is local, but the side has travelled to Dartmoor (the Dartmoor Folk Festival), Kent (as guests of Ravensbourne Morris), Chester (as guests of Manley Morris) and Sheffield (performing in the "Dancing England" show); and even as far afield as Denmark (the Ballerup Folk Festival). We are particularly pleased to dance regularly at Blenheim Palace, continuing a tradition at least a century old; and to maintain close links with Abingdon in the frequent visits of Mr Hemmings Morris Dancers. The May Bank Holiday and the Eynsham Carnival (the first Saturday in July) have become traditional dates for the side's performances in the village.
There are at present twelve dances in the repertoire, including revivals of some not danced since the early 1920s; Ada Gardner remembered in great detail the distinctive dances done under her father's leadership then. Buff Russell taught the Eynsham Scouts a stick dance in the 1930s; this has been revived and provides a very different Eynsham dance for spectators. A processional dance has been added. The side enjoys its close ties with the village and to the Eynsham Morris of the past; and takes great pride in the fact that Phil Lambourne, of the 1930s side, was for ten years a valuable member of the current team, acting as collector, traffic warden, baggage attendant and public relations man par excellence.
It is sad to record that Phil, the last survivor of the 1930s side, died in 1989. Until a few weeks before his death he continued to tour with the side; four of the team bore his coffin at the funeral.
If you have, or want, further information, please contact Keith Green, Pug Lane Cottage, High Street, Eynsham.
(c) Eynsham Morris 1983, 2nd edition (c) 1990, HTML edition (c) 1996.