Welcome to the Hunters Moon Morris Website

Hunters Moon are a Morris side from Eastbourne who dance in the 'Border' tradition; that is they perform dances in the style traditional to the counties of Worcestershire, Shropshire and Herefordshire. They first performed at the Eastbourne Lammas Fayre in 2001.

Although formed in 2001, Hunters Moon has aeons of experience in dance and music, but perhaps most importantly, all members have a love of folk tradition and values.

Hunters Moon Morris is Eastbourne's very own Morris side, dancing Border style with sticks and wearing black and silver tatters.

The origin of the 'Border' style 'tatter' costumes and the blacked-upfaces of the dancers is obscure. Attempts
have been made to explain the traditional black faces by equating Morris with 'Moorish' (African) dances from
the middle ages, but current thinking holds that it was more likely to have been a form of disguise, as the
activities of morris dancers and mummers were generally frowned upon by the rural clergy and squirearchy.

Border Morris was largely ignored by Edwardian folk-dance collectors who considerd it a less highly developed
form of dancing than its better known cousin, the 'Cotswold' morris, but the style has enjoyed a resurgence
in recent years as modern audiences tend to enjoy the raucous exuberance and wild appearance of the dancers.

Performances include old favourites plus new dances written by members of the side.

You'll hear and see the names of dances such as:

The Dancing Oolert
Shropshire Morris
Hunters Moon Processional
Much Wenlock

Old Tyler
September 4th
Cuckoo's Nest
Craven Stomp
Rickyard
Valient Soldier
Not Not For Joe
Tannerman
Astwood Bank Long Ho
Brimfield
Upton Upon Severn
Furze Field Common
Three Jolly Black Sheepskins
John Barleycorn - see it on YouTube at the Eastbourne Lammas Festival
Much Wenlock
Sun Up
White Ladies Aston
and the beautiful - Gypsy Lad - plus many more.

If you fancy giving it a try, either as a dancer or as a musician please contact us with your details and we will invite you along to one of our practices.

Pip - Bagman
(To book Hunters Moon for an event)
Bagman Contact Form

The artwork for the Hunters Moon logo was created by Laurence, one of our former dancers, which you can see on our T-Shirts, badges and song books. Order or download these from our merchandise page, where you can also find out details of our new DVD!