LASSINGTON OAK MORRIS MEN

 

LASSINGTON OAK HISTORY

 

"With a noyse and a din,
Comes the Maurice-Dancer in,
With a fine linen shirt,
but a buckram skin.
Oh! he treads out such a peale,
from his pair of legs of veale.
The quarters are idols to him.
Nor do those knaves inviron
Their toes with so much iron.
Twill ruin a Smith to shoe Him."

"Dancing serves no necessary use;
no profitable, laudable or pious end at all.
It issues only from the inbred
pravity, vanity, wantonness,
incontinency, profaneness, or
madness of men's depraved natures."

William Prynne(1600-1669)

 

Lassington Oak Morris Men were formed in 1977 by a group of dancers from the Gloucester & Stroud area. They were renowned not only for their dancing, but as fine musicians and singers. In many ways this start was reminiscent of the village and family traditions of early Morris Sides.

The side owes its name to an old oak tree to be found near the centre of Lassington Wood at Highnam, Gloucestershire. Unfortunately the old oak has been lying on its side for many a year, but a new tree planted by the side is flourishing.

Lassington Oak dance in the Cotswold Tradition, performing dances from a variety of villages including Bampton, Bledington, Adderbury and Fieldtown (Leafield).

 

Lassington Oak are members of Morris Ring