Скачать или смотреть Hartley Morris Men "Valentine" on the Ironbridge during Coalport & Ironbridge Tour 2024

Saturday 06 April & Sunday 07 April 2024
Visiting The Birthplace of Industry
Tour of Coalport & Ironbridge.

Hartley Morris Men, the oldest Morris side dancing in West Kent, have our roots dating back to the Stansted Morris dancers of the mid-1930s. We perform traditional Morris dances in the Cotswold style.
​Our regular dance season runs from May until September and traditionally starts at dawn on May Day at the Coldrum Stones Long Barrow, which is even older than us. We dance most Thursdays through the summer, and the odd Tuesday, at some of West Kent’s best pubs and usually end the evening with a few songs. We also perform at various events at weekends where the clashing of sticks and a few beers seem to complement each other.
We’re a mixed bunch, ranging in age from early 20s to the other end of the spectrum. We’re keen to keep this great tradition going and would encourage you to come along and watch or, better still, get involved – we’re always happy to see new faces and teach them the dances.
​​Over the Christmas period traditional mumming plays are performed by some of our members as The Darent Valley Champions, in aid of local charities.
​Wherever we are you’ll usually find the Hartley Horse, who originally erupted from an egg on the beach at Broadstairs many years ago and has followed us around ever since. Generally quite tame he sometimes gets completely out of control but has yet to cause anyone any serious harm, yet!

From Ironmen & Severn Gilders web page
The Ironmen & Severn Gilders come from Ironbridge in Shropshire, England.
We are a joint team that perform two distinct traditions of dancing and some joint dances just to show that we can!
The Ironmen are one of the original 'revival' Border morris teams. Border Morris is a traditional style that originates along the English/Welsh border (Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire) and involves lots of noise, stick clashing and energy.
Faces are disguised in the Ironmen's case with a mixture of black and red to echo the kit, which reminds us that the early border dancing was basically begging when work was scarce, or busking as we have it today.

The ladies team, The Severn Gilders, were named after the female workers at the Coalport China Factory [Coalport is just downstream from Ironbridge] - the Gilders - who put the gold decoration on the porcelain.

For both teams the kit colours of red and black are a tribute to the Ironbridge Gorge, the real birthplace of the industrial revolution, where the cokefires from the iron works coloured the sky. The yellow highlights hint at the gold on the Coalport ceramics.
Both border and North West morris are often accompanied by a lively band. IMSG are no different having, when everyone is available, one of the most distinctive morris band sounds in the country!