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THE MORRIS IN OXFORD
Besides a Jack-in-the-Green, the Oxford Morris sides go out on May Morning with a sword bearing fertility cake for distribution, seen here on May Morning 2017 (photo Tim Healey)
Oxford don Theo Chaundy helped form the University side in 1926 and on his death 40 years later the present sword and cake, made of silver-plated copper, was commissioned as a memorial. It bears the inscription 'Theo Chaundy, Most Ancient Man, 1966.' The cake itself is made to a secret recipe...
Goth morris! Armaleggan dance on Broad Street, May Morning 2023 (video Tim Healey).
OXFORD'S ENVIRONS
Other Morris sides active in Oxford's immediate environs include:
Armaleggan (Cumnor) www.armaleggan.org
Cry Havoc (Botley) www.cryhavoc.org.uk
Headington Quarry Morris Dancers
www.sites.google.com/site/headingtonquarrymorrisdancers
Summertown Morris www.summertownmorris.wordpress.com
Wolvercote Morris https://wolvercote.org/wolvercote-morris/
Cry Havoc; black jackets with a buzzard on the back (photo Edwin Pritchard)
Two morris sides co-ordinate the dancing on Oxford May Morning, one from town and one from gown. Invitations to dance in the city on the great day are issued jointly by:
Oxford University Morris Men (sometimes known as The Ancient Men) www.am39.com
Oxford City Morris Men http://ocmm.greenius.org/index.html
For their origins, click on Oxford & the Revival above.
Oxford University Morris dance around the Jack-in-the-Green, Radcliffe Square, May Morning 2018 (video Tim Healey). For more on the Oxford Jack, click on Jack-in-the-Green (above).
The University Morris, aka 'The Ancient Men', wear red baldricks (photo Tim Healey). The City Morris wear red and blue. as below.
The living tradition; City Morris at Radcliffe Square 2002 (photo Malcolm Austin by courtesy of Oxford City Morris)