Thaxted Morris dancers from across Britain gathered in Essex this weekend for a raucous and colourful celebration of the folk tradition.

Thaxted is considered the modern spiritual home of morris dancing and the local side hosted the gathering, the largest in the country.

Processions to the town's Guildhall drew hundreds of dancers and musicians, culminating in the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance.

Organised by the Morris Ring, an association of more than 200 morris dance sides inaugurated in 1934, the gathering is a celebration of a tradition that is more than 500 years old. The term morris probably developed from the French word morisque, meaning a dance, while the first confirmation of a performance of morris dancing, according to the Morris Ring, was in London on May 19, 1448.

At its inception, morris dancing was usually performed by one or two dancers, although now it is more common to see groups of four or more.

The dancing, like many folk traditions, declined during the 19th century, mainly as a result of the loss of patronage by the gentry and the growth of other leisure pursuits. Some rural villages kept the tradition alive and when Queen Victoria celebrated her Golden Jubilee in 1887 morris dancers were present.

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