‘Ribbon-decked poverty’: costume and performance in South Midlands morris dance

Petts, David

Abstract

Cotswold or South Midlands morris dance is a rural proletarian dance tradition which was at its height from the 18th century to the mid-19th century in central England. This paper explores the materiality of two surviving elements of morris-dance costume – a pair of bell-pads held in the Pitt-Rivers Museum, Oxford. It emphasizes the ad hoc nature of their construction, and particularly explores the wider social significance of the use of ribbon, situating this within a wider practice of the mobilization of ribbon as a social signifier within the rural milieu in which this dance tradition was practiced.

Citation

Petts, D. (online). ‘Ribbon-decked poverty’: costume and performance in South Midlands morris dance. World Archaeology, https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2025.2488738

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 1, 2024
• Online Publication Date: May 20, 2025
• Deposit Date: May 21, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: May 22, 2025
• Journal: World Archaeology
• Print ISSN: 0043-8243
• Electronic ISSN: 1470-1375
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2025.2488738
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3956764