The Horn Dance possibly has its roots as far back as the 11th Century and originated in the village of Abbots Bromley in East Staffordshire. It is a form of Morris dancing and can be understood as a very simple but strange re-enactment of a hunt. The members of the side include an archer, a maid (some believe her to be the Maid Marian of the Robin Hood legend), a hobby horse or jockey, a number of stags, a fool and a boy with a triangle. The dance involves the side moving in a line, splitting into two, making approaches to each other and bowing then moving off again.

The photo (above) shows the side outside Blithfield Hall within the parish.

The day begins very early in St. Nicholas’ Church with a service where the priest blesses the antlers. The dance is very tightly entwined in the religious life of the village. During the year they hang high on the wall to the left of the altar. Following the blessing, the side head out, firstly around the village calling at every house in the hope of donations. At the end of the day they will return to the church for a service of Compline and hanging up the antlers again for another year.

The antlers are quite heavy and there is a record of them being in use in Robert Plot’s Natural History of Staffordshire (1686). Some believe antlers were used as far back as Saxon times and the dance has pagan origins. The rulers of Mercia resided in Tamworth nearby and they owned Needwood Forest and Cannock Chase, both areas for hunting. It is said that the royal forrester staged a magic ritual to ensure good luck on hunts. This continued into Christian times and the ritual became assimilated into the church as a way of affirming the villagers right to hunt. The horns used in the dance today have been carbon dated to the 11th Century but Reindeer had been extinct in Britain by then so it is probable they were brought down from Scandinavia between 1080 and the 1600s AD. Prior to their arrival, it was likely that a hobby horse was used, which would support its inclusion today.

The wooded area of the parish called the ‘Bentlee Forest’ was originally owned by the Bentley family until 1914 when it became the property of the Fowell family who still own it. The dance was the prerogative of the owners of the forest who granted permission for it to be performed. The dance was originally performed on Twelfth Night each January but it changed to what is called Wakes Monday, which occurs in September.

The Abbots Bromley side is one that has, for centuries, been made up of people who live in the village or who are related to the Fowell family. It is remarkable that the dance has been consistently handed down from one generation to the next and is one of the oldest folk traditions in England.

The dance itself suggests a hunt. The stags lead and the other characters follow. The archer periodically pretends to fire an arrow and the boy jangles the triangle as they come together and bow. It would seem that the dance is rich in symbolism but the exact meaning has been long forgotten.