A slightly different and more anarchic type of Morris comes from the Welsh Border Country. Sides typically blacken their faces and dance in groups or "sides" of four, six or eight, often with sticks. The Bedford men's repertoire includes dances from Bromsberrow Heath (Gloucestershire), Brimfield (Herefordshire), Much Wenlock (Shropshire) and White Ladies Aston (Worcestershire).
The blacking of faces was probably intended to disguise the dancers, possibly from their bosses or other powerful gentry who might disapprove of such ribald behaviour. Certain highway robbers or "footpads" in the early 1700's used face-blacking as a device to mask their features and a by-law was eventually passed making any who used such a disguise to be suspect in the crimes committed by the gang.
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