Furry Dances There are many 19th century reports of furry dances. The
Helston Furry Dance was reported in
The Gentleman’s Magazine of 1790. In
the West Briton in 1959 Ashley Rowe wrote. 'In the peace rejoicings at the defeat of Napoleon in 1814 Truro danced the Flora for several hours; at Falmouth they danced until midnight on the Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; Penzance people also danced.' According to Wm. Penaluna, writing in 1834, the Furry was danced in Penryn on 3 May and in Sithney and the Lizard on 1 May. Rowe also notes 'When Victoria was pronounced Queen in 1837, Falmouth and Chacewater danced the Flora.' On Coronation day 1838
Trewoon, near St. Austell, held its Flora Dance and at Truro the Mayor led the dance, which lasted till the small hours' He also tells that St. Mawes celebrated winning a lawsuit over fishing rights by dancing the Flora in 1842.' It was seen in St. Ives in 1884. Even the
Newlyn riots of 1896 were accompanied by
Paul brass band playing Jon the Bone (Helston furry)! The earliest evidence of
Padstow's May Day revel is 1802, though, like furry dances, the tradition is probably much older.
Troils In fishing communities a dance or ‘
troil .. always terminated the pilchard season. This was a feast for those connected with the cellars, each cellar having its own troil. After the feast, which was given in the loft, games and dancing followed. These were kept up until the small hours of the morning, the music being provided by a fiddler.' In 1870
William Bottrell considered music integral to harvest home, feast days, even visits to the mill. He mentions 3-hand reels, jigs and ballads sung for dancing.
M. A. Courtney, writing in about 1880, mentions a circle dance in Mounts Bay on the feasts of
St. John and St. Peter. A 'snake-walk' dance at a tea treat c1900 was described in the
Cornish Tales of Charles Lee, possibly the composer of the song Lamorna.
Gorseth Kernow piper Merv. Davey’s grandfather, Edward Veale, remembered seeing the step dance, Lattapuch, in the Unity Fish Cellars, Newquay in the 1880s. These reports are born out by dance collection. In 1997 set, linear and step dances were still in living memory.
Geese dancing ‘
Geese dancing’ (pronounced geeze) was also popular, however it was not a dance form, rather a form of mumming that could include dance, music, singing, processions, games, cross-dressing and disguise. The term guise dancing is specific to west Cornwall and took place across the twelve days of Christmas. Margaret Courtney mentions geese dancers and a 'hobby horse' near Lands End about 1812. Writing in about 1880 Robert Hunt also described geese dancers. His guise dancers performed in the 12 days of Christmas and on
Plough Monday with a disguise of tattered paper headgear. One was often a man dressed as a woman. They sang 'popular ditties' and performed a mummer's play. In
The Delectable Duchy 'Q' (the writer
Arthur Quiller-Couch) tells of mummers, guise-dancers and darky parties in c1892. Bottrell describes guise-dances as light-hearted plays in doggerel with music and dance interludes. Perhaps these shows, formalised in Nance's
Cledry Plays were the last evolution of the mummers' art. Many mummers' plays have been collected in Cornwall, notably by
Robert Morton Nance. Morris is sometimes associated with mumming and some tunes used for morris are in Cornish MSS, but there is no evidence of the dance in 19th century Cornwall. ==References==