Abingdon
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Abingdon, county town of Berkshire, until local government reorganisation in 1974 saw the town become part of Oxfordshire.
Morris Dancing
Living tradition which dates back to at least 1560, when the accounts of Abingdon's parish church had an entry detailing the purchase of "two dossin of Morres belles".
Since 1978 there have been two morris teams in the town, following an acrimonious split.
see also Roy Dommett's notes on Abingdon
Election of the Mayor of Ock Street
- "The Mayor of Ock Street is elected each year by the residents of Ock Street. The election traditionally took place on the Day of the annual horse fair, and nowadays takes place on the Saturday nearest June 19th. The election is organised by the Morris side and is used as an excuse for inviting other Morris sides to Abingdon and having a day-long festival of dance. First dance is outside the Black Swan at 10am. Residents of Ock street all have the right to vote, and the election count takes place in the Brewery Tap at 4pm. The successful candidate, as Mayor, is then chaired along Ock Street and spends the next year as squire of the Morris side. Dancing usually continues until 8pm with the last dances performed on the marketplace.
- The Mayor of Ock Street is in the tradition of “Mock Mayors”. In times gone by mock mayors were widespread. A mock Mayor’s job, analogous to the court jester’s job, was to keep the civic mayor up to scratch. He could be as rude as he liked, and made sure that the civic mayor fully understood the townspeople’s point of view."