Archives indicate over 60 locations in Gloucestershire where mumming was recorded in the C19th and early C20th.
Although there is no group in the county with a continuous history of mumming back to C19th, there are some with significant lineage. Chipping Campden Mummers for example are a C20th team revived by members of the same family that originally performed the play over 100 years ago. Similarly Marshfield Paper Boys (now in South Gloucestershire) were revived with the help of folklorist Violet Alford in 1932 and continue to play on Boxing day every year.
Meanwhile many new groups have formed (see list below) and are currently active during the Christmas season.
There are mumming performances throughout December, some big and very public, such as the Boxing Day performance of the City of Gloucester Mummers outside Gloucester Cathedral after the morning service. Other groups perform only for their own community, with little visibility elsewhere.
List of Gloucestershire Mummers Groups
- Bisley Mummers
- Cheltenham Mummers
- Chipping Campden Mummers
- City of Gloucester Mummers
- Forest of Dean Morris Mummer
- Gloucestershire Morris Mummers
- Lassington Oak Morris Mummers
- Marshfield Paper Boys – Video
- Petty Heglers Mummers
- Ragged and Old Mummers
- Rockness Mummers
- Stroud Mummers
- Tewkesbury Mummers
- Waterley Bottom Mummers
- Winchcombe Mummers (Happenstance Border Morris)
- Christmas Boys of Winterbourn Down
For contact details for some of these groups see Glosfolk
Gloucestershire links page on the Folk Play website
If your mummers group is not listed, and you would like to be, then please drop us a line through the Contact Page.