No Field System celebration of Beltane is complete without Grimspound Border Morris. They’ve joined us every year for May Day — and this year they’ll be joined by Newton Bushel Morris, Valiant Mummers, and Crownmancrow, author of the Dartmoor Folklore Map!
Our afternoon starts at 3.30pm with a short May Day mummers’ play by The Valiant Mummers, followed by glorious Border and Cotswold Morris dancing outside the shop at 4pm. See below for more on the folk who’ll be entertaining you.
After the dancing (and maybe a drink!), sit down with folklorist and storyteller Crowmancrow at 5.30pm for some weird and wonderful tales of tors and the moor. Expect brand new tellings of stories about UFOs, faeries, ley lines, alien big cats!
Mumming and Morris is, as usual, free! Tickets to the talk are just £5 and can be found HERE.
On the Beltane bill..
Grimspound Border Morris are a Border Morris side named after the ancient settlement on Dartmoor beneath Hameldown Tor. Formed in 1994 as an all-male side, Grimspound has since opened its doors to all genders and adopted a more light-footed approach (plus a stray dancing bear!), doing their best not to take themselves too seriously. They have a large repertoire of original dances.
Founded in 1972, Newton Bushel Morris is a mixed Cotswold side from South Devon. Their ethos is to have fun and enjoy dancing outside in beautiful places. They have a broad repertoire of over 30 dances from nine different traditions — and they’re joined by a naughty, bum-pecking dancing seagull!
Crowmancrow (AKA Ethan Pennell) is a Plymouth-based artist and writer whose practice draws upon environmental issues, folklore and the occult. He is particularly inspired — and frequently haunted — by the eldritch tales of Dartmoor, his local stomping ground.
At this stage we know nothing about The Valiant Mummers… which might be the best way to keep it!
This event is part of Dartmoor Tors Festival 2026
Crowmancrow and a cast of female characters from the Dartmoor Folklore Map
Newton Bushel Morris..with the bum pecking gull!
Grimspound’s Grimbear at Stonehenge….of course!