The Abbots Bromley Horn Dance, well what is it all about? Nobody is really sure
as to the exact origins of this ancient dance but we will do our best to give you a little insight into this tradition
originally involving the families from the village of Abbots Bromley but nowadays from surrounding towns and villages as families
get bigger and move away.
The dance consists of twelve dancers, six carrying reindeer antlers,
accompanied by the hobby horse, a jester, maid marian, a boy carrying a bow and arrow, a musician playing an accordian and
a boy playing the triangle keeping the beat of the music for the dancers.
The six horns consists of three white horns and three blue horns(painted
brown but the blue shows through) and are still called the blues by the dancers
No.1 horn weighs 25 1/4 lbs white
No.3 horn weighs 19 lbs white
No.5 horn weighs 16 1/2 lbs
white
No.2 horn weighs 23 1/4 lbs
brown
No.4 horn weighs 20 lbs
brown
No.6 horn weighs 16 1/4 lbs
brown
When we are asked to dance outside of Abbots Bromley we use the smaller set of
Horns which were originally used for practice/training, these are much lighter than the originals.
The origins of the dance is believed to be that Henry the Third in 1226 granted
that the dance be performed to the Abbots of Burton at the Barthelmy Fair celebrating St Bartholomew's Day August 24th.
Over time the dance has moved to the begining of September and the three day fair has become one.
Although this shows the dance has been performed for over 800 years in the 1970's
one of the white horns was damaged and whilst away for repair it was radio carbon dated, this showed the horns were over a
thousand years old.
