Citylife in Rugeley and Cannock Chase September 2020

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Old Views of Abbots Bromley .............................................. The setting of the Horn Dance is in the quaint village of Abbots Bromley, which can trace its history back to the Norman Conquest of 1066. These vintage postcards show the Horn Dancers at Blithfield Hall, the ancestral home of the Bagot family. The original hall was built in the 14th century and is home to a famous breed of goat, the Bagot Goat! The aerial photograph portrays the layout of the village taken from the tower of St Nicholas’ Church in the 1930s and shows that the village has not changed dramatically in the last 100 hundred years. The postcard of the Market Cross, or more accurately the Butter Cross, has the Goat’s Head Inn in the background. The inn was built in the 17th century and is named after the Bagot breed of goat. The Church of St Nicholas’ was originally built in the 14th century and is the resting home of the reindeer horns of the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance. Aerial view of Abbots Bromley from St Nicholas’ Church, date unknown Abbots Bromley Market Cross c1930s Abbots Bromley Horn Dancers, 1919 Abbots Bromley Horn Dance, date unknown St Nicholas’ Church, Church Lane 20 *Postcards courtesy of Jono’s Tourism.
A Curious Custom CANCELLED ............................ On Monday 7th September 2020 one of the country’s most curious, and traditional, folk dances would have taken place in Staffordshire – the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance. Due to the Covid-19 situation this very traditional event has, unfortunately, been cancelled for this year. Our feature writer, Jono Oates, looks at the near 800-year history of the ‘dance of the antlers’. Each year, on the first Monday after the first Sunday after 4th September, a rather bizarrely-dressed ensemble of people, some carrying ancient deer antlers, parade around the picturesque village of Abbots Bromley while performing a flamboyant folk dance. This is the historic Abbots Bromley Horn Dance, reputed to be the oldest folk dance in Britain and a quintessential slice of English heritage and custom. It isn’t exactly clear when the dance was first performed but it’s thought that it was at the Barthelmy Fair, held to celebrate St Bartholomew’s Day in 1226. It’s believed that the original dances were held during the time of the winter solstice and possibly even on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day but the current ceremony has been performed on Wakes Monday for several hundred years. During the First World War the Horn Dance was suspended, as many local traditional dances and customs were, but other than that, it is believed that the dance has been carried out, in its current format, for more than 400 years –that is, until 2020, when it has been cancelled for only the second time in its history. The group of dancers consists of 12 people, six of whom carry the heavy antlers, and the others who are made up of Maid Marian (in true panto-style, played by a man), a boy carrying a bow and arrow, a jester or fool, a hobbyhorse, a boy carrying a triangle and a musician playing an accordion. The 12 dancers have traditionally been played by men and boys but, in more recent times, the roles of the triangle player and bowman have also been played by girls. For many years the dancers were mainly made up of members of two Abbots Bromley families, Adey and Bentley, however the dancers today come from the local area, although spectators have sometimes been given the opportunity to take part! The antlers, three pairs painted black and three pairs painted white, are reindeer horns. One of these horns was carbon-dated in the 1970s whilst being repaired and was found to date back to the 11th century. Reindeers are thought to have died out in Britain by the 11th century so the antlers may well have been imported from Scandinavia. The ceremony starts at 8am at St Nicholas Church in the village which is where the antlers are kept. The dancers then perform on the village green before travelling around the local area, including a visit at midday to Blithfield Hall, the Grade I ancestral home of the Bagot family. Here, the dancers perform in the Hall’s gardens while visitors watch from the vantage point of a ‘ha-ha.’ After calling in at several local pubs during the afternoon the troupe returns to the village green at 8pm where the antlers are returned to the safety of the church. In 2019 a series of Royal Mail postage stamps, with the collective title of ‘Curious Customs’, was issued and the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance was selected as one of eight traditional, and unusual, customs. It may have been cancelled for only the second time in its 800- year-old history but hopefully the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance will return to the village in 2021 when visitors and locals alike will, once again, be able to enjoy the ancient tradition of the ‘dance of the antlers’. For more information on the tradition please visit the Horn Dance website at www.abbotsbromley.com/horn_dance. Sources: The British Newspaper Archive; www.abbotsbromleynostalgia.co.uk. 21
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Citylife in Rugeley and Cannock Chase September 2020

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