The Abbots Bromley Horn Dance

The official records of the dance go back to at least the time of Henry the Third, who in 1226 granted that the dance be performed to the Abbots of Burton at the Barthelmy Fair celebrating St Bartholomew's Day August 24th.
Although this shows the dance has been performed for over 800 years, carbon dating on the horns used in the dance shows that they are actually over a thousand years old! This means that the dance was most likely a very ancient tradition going far further back than 1226, and, given its strong symbolism and time of the year, could well be a very ancient, possibly even Paleolithic or Neolithic ceremony to celebrate the start of the hunting season in that area.
In any event, it is certainly the oldest traditional dance in all of Britain, and possibly the oldest tradition in the country, being performed faithfully each year for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• british
• heritage
• tradition
• horn
• dance
• ancient

[septegram]

My wife and I were married in June, but scheduled our honeymoon to England so we could be at the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance. The dancers were very gracious to us and actually let me dance in with them. It was an incredible experience, and a hearty "thank you" to all of them.

[jaynEwinslade]

It is absolutely wonderful and inspired me so much I wrote a book - a fantasy based upon the tradition of the dance. Well done for keeping this alive, see you this year.

Jayn E Winslade - click here!

[carnutter360]

It's interesting to watch the horn dancers, I myself have been to the horns evenings for the last few years with two morris sides that I play/dance with

[dimondzero]

Its a nice place to be i used to live there :D ! infact i think you can see my house lol ! its not bad go to the pub Goats Head thoo :D really fun and walk around the church.

[LuvDaDoc]

woo go abbots bromley

love living there its great!

[Wyrdtimes]

I shall definitely be there this year :)

[drmlabs]

thank you for posting this. If you have other heritage vids please post them, I'm going to Subscribe to you

[mutter39]

well i do apologise all you horn dancers know him as bert as it is my sisters son i have always called him harry

[mikegreb]

excuse me ill have you know that its bert not harry playing the triangle ( from the bow and arrow boy )

[bertsmum]

well said mate i agree this is how the horn dance is really done well done lads keep it up