The Abbots Bromley Horn Dance is a unique English folk dance performed in the village and surrounding district on Wakes Monday. This day follows the first Monday after the first Sunday after the 4th of September, so the dance itself has no fixed date, it can occur between the 5th and 12th of September depending on the year. The Wakes were originally a three day festival granted by Henry 111 in 1226, celebrating St. Bartholomew’s Day August 24th. The correction of the Julian calendar in 1752 moved the fair to the beginning of September and the three days have gradually become one.
Although the dance is performed on Wakes Monday, there is no written evidence that a dance originally took place in the 13th century, indeed the earliest reference for a dance (1532) recorded the use of a hobby horse (no horns mentioned) and this was supported by Robert Plot’s description in the Natural History of Staffordshire (1686) when he still describes it as a “Hobby Horse Dance”, although by this time the horns were recorded as being part of the dance. The horns have been carbon dated to C.1065, from domesticated reindeer of Scandinavian origin that could have been imported at sometime from the 11th century to the 17th century, lending weight to the theory that the custom originally began with a hobby horse, and the horn dance component was added later, explaining why only the former was mentioned by the 16th century sources. The dance also originally took place on other days as well as Wakes Monday, including Christmas Day, New Years Day and Twelfth Day in the first week of January.
The dancers consist of twelve persons, six carrying the reindeer antlers, the Hobby Horse, Maid Marion, the Jester, a boy carrying a bow and arrow and another with a triangle beating time along with the musician. The music was originally played on a fiddle but now accordions are used. The six horns consist of three painted white and three painted brown, the largest being the Big White with a weight of over 25lbs. They all are mounted onto carved wood deer heads which many believe to be from the 16th century. Each has an area where originally was painted the Coat of Arms of the chief families associated with Abbots Bromley i.e. Paget, Bagot and Welles. Plot records these arms in use in his discription of the dance in 1686, and Miss Rice in her book of the History of Abbots Bromley records a sketch of the Welles arms which has in it’s design a stags head with antlers!
The dancers consist of twelve persons, six carrying the reindeer antlers, the Hobby Horse, Maid Marion, the Jester, a boy carrying a bow and arrow and another with a triangle beating time along with the musician. The music was originally played on a fiddle but now accordions are used. The six horns consist of three painted white and three painted brown, the largest being the Big White with a weight of over 25lbs. They all are mounted onto carved wood deer heads which many believe to be from the 16th century. Each has an area where originally was painted the Coat of Arms of the chief families associated with Abbots Bromley i.e. Paget, Bagot and Welles. Plot records these arms in use in his discription of the dance in 1686, and Miss Rice in her book of the History of Abbots Bromley records a sketch of the Welles arms which has in it’s design a stags head with antlers!
The dancers have in the past centuries always come from families within the village and some of them, the Adey’s and the Bentley’s having long association with the Horn Dance. Until the 19th Century the dance remained traditionally with the Bentley family, eventually passing to the Fowell family through marriage in the 20th Century and continues with them today.
There is still much to discover about the unique Horn Dance and of course many theories exist as to its origin and purpose – in short no one knows, but it celebrates a cherished look to the past which the people of Abbots Bromley feel justifiably proud.
Chris Ecclestone