Hertfordshire morris men in Clerkenwell

In June 1826 a correspondent watched a company of morris dancers from a Hertfordshire village in Rosoman Street, Clerkenwell. There were eight young men: six dancers with ribbons and small latten bells at their hats, arms and knees, a piper with pipe and tabor, and a leader who collected pence in his hat and kept them in a locked tin box. They danced a set-to, turning, clapping before and behind, in the rain and mud while crowds of schoolboys cheered. The piper had won the grinning match, the wrestling and the sack race at his village revel, and the company meant to stay in town a week or two.