Bampton 2026
Following the eager anticipation of getting the camera ready & batteries charged the night before, I set out from Leicestershire on a glorious sunny Bank Holiday Monday (May 25th) at 6:30am to cover the 93 mile journey to the Oxfordshire village of Bampton.
This was my first attendance at this traditional morris event that takes place every Whitsuntide Monday and I wanted to be there ready for the 8:30am start of proceedings.
Arriving at 8:15am with the car parked up on a quiet road at the top side of the village I instantly spotted a small gathering of dancers, and by the time I’d made my way towards them the small gathering had become more of a crowd - this was to be Bampton Traditional Morris Dancers, one of 3 teams in the village, and as the number of dancers kept appearing I realised this team was to be somewhat more of a squad in terms of numbers.
Right on 8:30am they stepped into the first mass dance of the day, quite a sight to see what looked to be 25 or more morris dancers flailing their white handkerchiefs, I really didn’t know where to begin, who to focus on or who to pick out as the initial spectacle of it all caught me quite unawares - as they set along New Road they picked up more followers that added to the crowd.
I followed BTMD along New Road, around the loop of Bowling Green Close, back down New Road and then into The Lanes area where the team entered their first private garden visit of the day, and what a spectacular garden it was - this backdrop gave me fantastic opportunity to capture the team in quite a unique surrounding, and by this time they had now settled into a more familiar pattern (to me at least) of routine in terms of numbers performing the dance.
With the time fast approaching 9:30am and happy with what I’d captured (if my camera back screen was anything to believe) I made my way back towards the centre of Bampton village as my stomach was telling me that 3 hours after that 6:30am start I needed to take in some sustenance - thankfully a rather splendid sausage baguette hit the spot, washed down with an equally sumptuous mocha, all curtesy of The Bampton Coffee House.
As the clock moved past 10:00am and with the temperature moving upwards of 25°C it was time to seek the other morris teams and I didn’t have to move far to find myself within jingling bells distance from the Traditional Bampton Morris Dancers who were entertaining a crowd outside The Talbot Hotel - I immediately recognised a few familiar faces as I had previously photographed this team back in June 2024 at Ilmington Village as guests of Ilmington’s 50th anniversary day of dance.
After reacquainting myself with a few members of TBMD I proceeded to follow them to their next dance location which was back up around The Lanes area of Bampton, only this time in the private road area of the more senior folk of the village and not the garden I’d only an hour previous been to with BTMD - this provided opportunity to be another great location for me to capture some further images.
Next stop was back towards the centre of Bampton village once again (certainly getting the step count in) to visit the aptly named Morris Clown public house, which offered the team a welcome cover of shade from the now very harsh & glaring sunlight and a welcome refreshment opportunity - the image below captures the TBMD Morris Fool/Clown performing his solo stick dance.
With time moving on and the temperature ever rising as we got closer to mid-day I took chance to go and stock up with some bottles of water and sit back in the shade for a while and just observe from a distance as TBMD performed their next set of dances adjacent to the war memorial in the village square - from there I did follow them up to the church gates to see their next session before everybody adjourned for lunch.
The first afternoon session started in a private garden that used to be The Old George public house, this was a fantastic location and there was a very welcoming crowd that had been invited along to appreciate TBMD, it was quite a privilege to be inside these gardens and (as with the morning private garden) unique opportunity for me to capture events in such fine surroundings and clear blue skies - a check on the thermometer was now showing the temperature heading upwards of 30°C
Keeping to schedule (more or less) the next call was to the vicarage, another splendid outdoor garden, another welcoming crowd who were all sensibly sat in any shade they could find and another 30 minutes for TBMD to dance in the sun ! - it seemed relentless, every garden visited was soaked in direct sunlight which for me photographing was nice (but sometimes tricky) but for the dancers I don’t doubt exhausting, thankfully a ready supply of well chilled drinks was always available to them.
Moving back to the village centre, The Horse Shoe public house followed by The Market Tavern were the next dance spots, the heat was now becoming quite intense so much so my camera went into overheat mode and required a shut down plus me standing in the shade to stabilise it, TBMD had to contend with the tarmac on the road starting to turn sticky, we were now at 3:00pm on literal melt down and still approximately 2 hours of the day to complete - it came as some welcome relief that the next location, back at the church gates, was now predominantly bathed in shade.
Following on from the church gates it was a short walk across the churchyard to The Deanery, and once again this was a private garden setting of quite exquisite beauty with a large area of lawn and backdrop of the church - a decent crowd had gathered and beyond the few brave enough to sit out in the sun the rest all took sensible shelter in the shade provided by the ample hedge to than ran across two sides of the lawn, unfortunately for TBMD they were once more totally exposed to the direct sunlight, thankfully for myself my camera had recovered from its overheat issues and was back functioning as expected so I made the most of the next 30 minutes.
Nearly there with just one more dance spot to go, and finally an area covered in shade for TBMD to escape the direct harsh rays, the clock was moving past 4:30pm and the temperature had hit 33°C - what a glorious day it had been, too hot if truth be told and I was only a meandering spectator, I genuinely felt for the dancers as it must have been an exhausting afternoon but they stuck with the schedule and delivered some truly wonderful displays of morris dancing to an appreciative crowd, well done TBMD !
My appreciation and extended thanks as always to the teams of Bampton for allowing me to photograph them on this traditional calendar event, already looking forward to 2027 - my curated observations of the day can be found in the projects section of this website.
Mr. Barry Care MBE - Traditional Bampton Morris Dancers - Bampton, Oxfordshire - May 2026