A Very Brief History of White Horse Morris
White Horse Morris Men were formed in the winter of 1950/51 and were originally based in the Warminster area in Wiltshire. In 1951 they attended their first Ring meeting at Oxford and were admitted to the Morris Ring of England. For pictures and press cuttings from those early days go to the Gallery page and click the "1951-2011 The First 60 Sixty Years" tab.
As their symbol they adopted the pre-1778 Westbury White Horse, itself a survivor of prehistoric times and similar to that carved above the hills of Uffington in Oxfordshire. The symbol formed part of the original kit with the White Horse badge central to the baldrick (crossed bands of fabric) of which the colours represented the home area of Wiltshire, with green for Salisbury Plain, white for the chalk hills and blue for the sky.
Over the years White Horse Morris Men developed a reputation as an excellent dance side offering dances from a range of mainly Cotswold traditions. They have toured extensively in the United Kingdom, for example to the Isle of Wight, Cheshire, Devon and Oxfordshire as well as in Europe, notably to France and Germany.
From the time of the side’s formation to the present, numbers have fluctuated and the average age of the side increased so in September 2011 it was decided to make the side mixed, thus becoming White Horse Morris, so that we can now offer mixed and single sex Border and Cotswold Morris Dances, thus allowing us to carry on our long tradition for excellent dancing.
Numbers are now flourishing and the style and energy that have always characterised White Horse have been maintained for the continuance of Morris Dancing in this area. We practise in Wylye and dance around the Wiltshire / Dorset borders.
......for a series of articles and pictures, produced by members for WHM's 70th anniversary 2021
Our Dances
White Horse Morris perform a range of Border and Cotswold dances from:
Adderbury
Bampton
Bledington
Brackley
Fieldtown
Lichfield
Upton upon Severn
Shropshire
Worcestershire
"Medup"
Our dances are performed energetically with our own interpretation of traditional themes.