According to Cecil Sharp 'Brackley's morris dancing won for it a great reputation in the neighbourhood, notably in those villages through which the dancers passed on their way to Stow House , near Buckingham, the performance at which was the chief event of the Whitsuntide festivities. Many of the villages - Fritton, Middleton-Cheney, Dadford, Westbury etc., contrinuted dancers who would take their place in the Side when Brackley men danced in the streets of their respective villages. Some of theses villages supported sides of theire own, but dances were little more than reproductions, more or less accurate, of those of the parent-village.'
The dances and tunes as listed in A Handbook of Morris Dances
- The Captain With His Whiskers, Brackley 1, Jour EFDSS, Dec 1955
- The Captain With His Whiskers, Brackley 2, CJS from Tyler
- The Month of May, Brackley, MDT
- Shooting, Brackley, Jour EFDSS, Dec 1955
- Bean Setters, Brackley, Jour EFDSS, Dec 1955
- The Rose Tree in Full Bearing, Brackley, RKS (MSS)
- Balancy Straw (Bob and Joan) Brackley, CJS from F.Smith (RD)
- The Captain With His Whiskers, Brackley 3, RKS from Blackwell & Giles, 1937
- Shepherds' Hey, Brackley, RKS from Blackwell & Giles, 1937
- Jockie to the Fair, Brackley 1, MDT
- Maid of the Mill, Brackley 1, MDT (Col. in Abingdon)
- Old Woman Who Carried a Broom, Brackley, MDT (This tune is from Steeple Claydon)
- Old Woman Tossed Up, Brackley, CJS(MSS) : also Jour EFDSS
- Bonnets So Blue, Brackley, Hamer from Kendall (RKS MSS version is a little different)
- Haste to the Wedding, Brackley, RKS from Blackwell, 1937
- Jockie to the Fair, Brackley 2, Jour EFDSS, Dec 1955
- Maid of the Mill, Brackley 2, CJS from T.Howard (1909) (RD)
- Maid of the Mill, Brackley 3, CJS from T.Howard (1922) (RD)
- Maid of the Mill, Brackley 4, CJS from T.Howard (1922) (RD) Also RKS from Giles, (1937)
- For Bacca Pipes Jig, see Hinton
Sources:
MB III. FH (EDS, July 1950; Jour.EFDSS, Dec 1955)
Sharp's material was collected partly from John Stutsbury in Hinton-in-the-Hedges, near Brackley, and partly from Timothy Howard in Brackley. FH, after studying Sharp's MSS and meeting old dancers in Brackley, concluded that there were two separate traditions, Brackley and Hinton. RD doubts this, that Stutsbury had been a Brackley dancer who had moved to Hinton and taught a new side. Since however distinct differences in the dancing appear to have developed in Hinton I {LB} have decided to follow FH and treat them as separate traditions.
Sharp's material was collected partly from John Stutsbury in Hinton-in-the-Hedges, near Brackley, and partly from Timothy Howard in Brackley. FH, after studying Sharp's MSS and meeting old dancers in Brackley, concluded that there were two separate traditions, Brackley and Hinton. RD doubts this, that Stutsbury had been a Brackley dancer who had moved to Hinton and taught a new side. Since however distinct differences in the dancing appear to have developed in Hinton I {LB} have decided to follow FH and treat them as separate traditions.
