Recently, we saw some morris dancers under the county hall – The Taunton Deane Morris Men from Somerset. They were on a Sunday tour of some of the places associated with the morris dance sides recorded by Cecil Sharp who died 100 years ago. (Sharp, a renowned English folklorist, is credited with reviving Morris dancing in the early 20th century.)  The Taunton Deane Morris visited Chipping Campden, Longborough, Sherborne, Headington Quarry and Abingdon.

I was too late to see all of them as they had finished dancing. But found this picture of all of them on their website.

Mr Hemming’s Abingdon Day of Dance kicked off at 10:30 am today, but for the Hastings RX Morris side, the day began much earlier. They came from East Sussex to join Mr Hemmings Traditional Morris and 10 other teams, and when they got here rain forced them to seek shelter most of the morning. There was cover under the County Hall.

There was cover inside the Broad Face pub. Here are Abingdon’s own Ashnah Tribal Dancers.

There was cover under the tarpaulins at the Nags Head.

It did brighten up by the afternoon to allow dancing at other locations before another downpour soon after 4 pm.

These are Masons Apron Morris.

The Chiltern Hundreds Clog Morris from near Watford.

These are the Stroud Morris.

I must apologise that I didn’t even get any pictures of Mr Hemmings Abingdon Traditional Morris dancing. By the afternoon I had to be elsewhere. So congratulations to Les Badcock and his team for attracting so many visiting teams to Abingdon. Abingdon is a historically important centre of Morris Dancing.