Links: Morris Organisations,
Morris Archive and History

This page lists links to existing Morris organisations, dance history and archive material on the web.

Morris Archives

Archive material is described and listed on the Archives page on this site.

Morris Organisations

The Morris Ring	The original UK-wide morris organisation. Membership is now open to male, female, and mixed sides.
The Morris Federation	The UK's largest association of morris and traditional dance teams. Notations for many dances can now be found at https://www.morrisfed.org.uk/notation-library
Open Morris	Open Morris is open to any group or individual involved in the performance of Morris Dancing or allied activities.
Sword Dance Union	Founded in 2005, the Union aims to encourage, develop and maintain the traditional sword dances of England.
The Illustrious Order of Fools and Beasts	This web site is to acquaint you with the activities of some of the more eccentric members of the Morris in the UK and elsewhere.
The Australian Morris Ring	The Australian Morris Ring is the central organisation for Australian Morris dancers. It publishes a quarterly newsletter, coordinates a group application to the National Folk Festival and provides insurance services.
Rapper Online	A very comprehensive covering of the history of rapper, the traditional sides, and the notation, and also a list of many new sides performing rapper.
The North American Morris Dance Organization	A new (incorporated October 2020) association for North American Morris teams.

Morris Books and Other Publications

History And The Morris Dance	John Cutting. A look at Morris dancing from its earliest days until 1850.Published 2005 !SBN 1 85273 108 7
The Ancient English Morris Dance	Michael Heaney 2023
The History of Morris Dancing 1458 - 1750	John Forrest 1999 ISBN 0227 67944 X
Mary Neal And The Suffragettes Who Saved Morris Dancing	Kathryn Atherton 2024 ISBN 139906150X
Morris Dancing In The English South Midlands 1660 - 1900	Keith Chandler 1993 A chronological gazetteer

Other Morris-Related Links

ABC Library of Morris Tunes	An American site hosting ABC files of many Cotwold morris tunes.
Morris Dancing Wiki	A user-editable resource for all things related to morris dancing.
Jeff Bigler's Wiki	Morris & sword dance side contact information, Directory of Online Morris Dancers (DOOMD)
List of Carnival Morris Troupes	The origin of Carnival Morris is closely related to North-West Morris and is now performed by girls but it has not always been so. After the death of Queen Victoria there was a huge increase in the number of morris troupes, morris competitions, and carnivals. They were kids troupes and adult troupes, male, female and mixed. By the end of WW1 the majority of the men only troupes had folded, but the others kept going, and flourished. Prior to WW1 the morris competitions had generally been arranged locally, but the 1920s saw the advent of Carnival Organisations who arranged carnivals, morris competitions and provided judges. By the 1930s Women's/Girls morris with pom-poms had come to dominate the carnival morris competitions, although clog sides from Oldham area and the Bacup Nutters still competed. The Carnival Morris Troupes have survived and developed outside the influence of the folk world. They have ended up looking a bit like majorettes, but in have nothing at all to do with that tradition which comes from America. (Notes by Duncan Broomhead)
Master Mummers website	Website for researchers and performers of Mumming, Guising and other folk plays. World-wide database
Tutorial videos	John Sweeney's instructional videos for some Cotswold traditions (Adderbury, Bampton, Badby, Field Town, Ilmington, Lichfield)
Morrisbook	A site designed for a Morris side where all details of availability for performances, dance notation and many other features can be posted privately for access only by members of that side.