About the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance
The dance takes place on Wakes Monday - the Monday following the first Sunday after the 4th of September.
After collecting the horns from the church at about eight o'clock in the morning the dancers - who comprise six Deer-men, a Fool, a Hobby Horse, a Bowman (or Robin Hood) and a Maid Marion - perform the dance accompanied to music provided by a melodian player and a boy with a triangle. The route of the dance covers about 10 miles after which the horns are returned to the church where they remain on display until the next year.
The first written mention of the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance places it at the Barthelmy Fair in August 1226. The dance was performed until 1752 on 24th August until the change to the Julian calendar brought it forward. Performances also used to occur on Twelfth Night and at Yule. The carved wooden antler heads are in a style said to be sixteenth century or earlier and are attached to real antlers. The largest pair weighs 25.5 pounds (11.5 kg) and has a span of 39 inches (99cm). There are three white sets of antlers and three sets of red or blue (although to me they looked black) and the dance itself consists of a spiral followed by the two colours lining up against each other then coming together with the Bowman/Robin Hood scraping the arrow against his bow and stepping towards the Hobby Horse. The Maid Marian (played by a man) collects alms for the village church of St Nicholas using a strange cudgel-shaped wooden box with a handle.
One of the antlers (which are never allowed to leave the parish) has been carbon dated to the 11th century and at Star Carr in Yorkshire Mesolithic antler "frontlets" dated to 7600 BC have been found (see the pictures below) which have been attributed to ritual use or to use in hunting as a sort of disguise. However, the origins of the dance may be much older - perhaps as a Stone Age hunting ritual or possibly connected with reindeer migrations occurring in the Upper Palaeolithic.
Dance Timetable and Route
The schedule is as follows but remember the times are only approximate:
07.45 Collect horns from the church.
08.15 Dancing on the Village Green then at Goose Lane and Yeatsall.
11.00 Admaston Village (across the reservoir).
12.00 Blithfield Hall (followers may be allowed into the park with the kind permission of Lady Bagot).
13.45 Little Dunstall Farm.
14.15 Rugeley Turn
15.30 The Bagot Arms
16.15 The Royal Oak
16.50 The Goats Head
17.30 The Crown Inn
18.30 School House Lane, Bagots View/Swan Lake, Radmore Lane, Lichfield Road.
19.15 Coach and Horses, High St
20.00 Village Green
20.15 Horns returned to church.
Photos
My apologies for the poor quality of the photographs which I took of the dance in the year 2000. Click the thumbnails to bring up the full size pic.
The dancers walk in a spiral...
...and then come together in two rows.
Note the Fool to the right.
Facsimile of one of the antler frontlets found at Star Carr.
One of the frontlets is on display at the British Museum.
The Promotion Group (presumably attached to Staffordshire Council) may be able to answer your queries - telephone 01283 840224 or 01283 840157 or try the East Staffordshire Borough Council Tourist Information Centre 01283-516609. See also the Abbots Bromley Village Web Site.
There is an excellent account of the dance by a visitor from New Zealand including some good photos here.
Acknowledgements
Article "The Abbots Bromley Horn Dance" by Vanessa Armstrong in "The Wiccan" number 112 (1994)
If any of the above information is incorrect, if you have any links that you think would be useful or if you have more facts on the Horn Dance that you would like to tell me about please email me, Joe Bromley, at bromley@stoke5399.freeserve.co.uk