Related pages:
For the JMO’s latest submissions to the Living Heritage inventory, see our page: //www.morrisfed.org.uk/resources/unesco-living-heritage-submissions/ (THIS PAGE)
For the current information about the Living Heritage inventory, see our page: //www.morrisfed.org.uk/resources/unesco-living-heritage/
For background information on the consultation by the DCMS in the lead up to the Living Heritage inventory, see our page: //www.morrisfed.org.uk/resources/unesco-ich/
Expressions of Interest
‘Living Heritage’ is the UK’s implementation of the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)
What is Intangible Cultural Heritage?
See: UNESCO ICH – Safeguarding our living heritage: https://ich.unesco.org/en/home where they say: “Cultural heritage does not end at monuments and collections of objects. It also includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts.”. A full definition of ICH is at: UNESCO – What is intangible cultural heritage
So … our morris dancing and related activities is a living, intangible cultural heritage.
Why does ICH need safeguarding? This is UNESCO’s answer: UNESCO – Why safeguard intangible cultural heritage.
Submissions to the Inventory
This is a 2 stage process. The first stage is to enter Expressions of Interest (EOI)s, and the second is a process of community consent leading the full submission.
The first wave of submissions closes on 27th March 2026. The JMO (Joint Morris Organisations) will draft various submissions on behalf of our members, and put them out for community consent to our memberships before they are submitted.
There will be future windows of oportunity to submit entries to the Inventory.
Expressions of Interest (EOI) prior to full submission
Here is the full list of Expressions of Interest (EOIs) entered to the UK inventory: https://livingheritage.unesco.org.uk/get-involved/elements. Where there are duplicates, the DCMS will bring contacts together to make a single submission.
Of the above, the following Expressions of Interest (EOI) were entered in January 2026 by the JMO (Joint Morris Organisations) on behalf of our memberships. The maximum number of words was 50.
Inventory Key: E=England, S=Scotland, W=Wales, NI=Northern Ireland
Appalachian Step Dancing
Element Categories: Performing arts
Related to English clog dancing and Irish step dancing, with a distinct exuberant style, Appalachian step dances originate from the USA, but are now performed by many teams in Britain in both Buck and Wing and Flatfooting styles. Dancers usually wear tap shoes.
Inventory: E
Border Morris Dancing
Element Categories: Performing arts
Border Morris is a loose, energetic form of dance using heavy sticks, mainly to a single step and danced to live music, originating in the English counties along the border with Wales. Performers often wear rag jackets and paint their faces or use other forms of disguise.
Inventory: E, S, W
Clog Step Dancing
Element Categories: Performing arts
A dance style, usually performed solo, with percussive footwork and fine timing. In England it is thought to have originated in northern industrial towns where workers wore stout wooden clogs. Dances usually follow set routines in distinct patterns, and many originate from individual dancers.
Inventory: E, S, W
Step Dancing
Element Categories: Performing arts
Dance styles, usually performed solo, with percussive footwork and fine timing. Generally performed in hard soled shoes. Dances are often freestyle although there are some set dance routines.
Inventory: E, S, W
Cotswold Morris Dancing
Element Categories: Performing arts
Performed with hankies and sticks, to live music, usually by teams of 6 or 8. Dancers often wear ribbons, baldrics or waistcoats, bells and decorated hats. This style, from the Cotswold villages of Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and Warwickshire, is, for most people, the quintessential picture of ‘morris dancing’.
Inventory: E, S, W
English Country Dancing
Element Categories: Performing arts, Social practices
Social dances for couples performed between the 17th and early 19th centuries. Many dances were published by John Playford, his descendants and others, from 1651 onwards. Some teams wear historical costumes and use acoustic instruments appropriate to the period.
Inventory: E
Fools and Beasts
Element Categories: Performing arts
Many morris dancers are accompanied by people dressed as a ‘fool’ or a ‘beast’ such as a hobby horse or hooden horse, either to add to the spectacle, to create a connection between the performance and the audience, or both.
Inventory: E, S, W
Longsword Dancing
Element Categories: Performing arts
Originating mainly in Yorkshire and the North East, longsword dances use rigid swords with one handle. Usually performed by a linked circle of six or eight dancers who interweave dancers and swords, breaking the circle when the swords are locked together and are held aloft.
Inventory: E, S
Maypole Dancing
Element Categories: Performing arts, Social practices
A traditional dance form, used both as a performance and a participatory social dance, maypole dancing features a tall pole with ribbons attached at the top, also often decorated with flowers. Dancers hold a ribbon each and dance around the pole in various intricate patterns, forming many different woven designs.
Inventory: E, S, W, NI
Molly Dancing
Element Categories: Performing arts
Firmly rooted in the Cambridgeshire Fens and areas around the Wash, Molly Dancing has developed alongside Ploughboy/Plough Monday celebrations at Epiphany and Straw Bear celebrations. It is recognisable by striking costumes and single step footwork. Dancers often use disguise or face paint and dance to live music.
Inventory: E
Mumming and Guising Plays
Element Categories: Performing arts
Mumming and guising plays are short verse dramas performed seasonally with regional variations in England, Northern Ireland and southern Scotland. The traditional texts feature a mock sword fight or assault, and a quack doctor is brought in to cure the loser. They may also feature songs and short dances.
Inventory: E, S, W, NI
North West Morris Dancing
Element Categories: Performing arts
Nowadays danced in clogs by teams of at least 8 dancers, the original dances were inspired by workers in the weaving industries of North West England. Large bands, including drumming, accompany the dancers. Many teams were associated with rushbearing celebrations which led to the processional nature of the dance.
Inventory: E
Plough Morris Dancing
Element Categories: Performing arts
Originating in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire, this style is usually performed by teams in multiples of 3 or 4, holding a variety of percussive items or flags. Dancers often wear ribbons or tatters and use face paint or disguise. Performed to live, often local, music.
Inventory: E
Rapper Sword Dancing
Element Categories: Performing arts
Originating in northeast England, Rapper Sword is danced by 5 dancers with flexible steel ‘swords’ with handles on both ends. Dances involve complex figures which interweave dancers and swords, only breaking the circle to form a ‘lock’. Often accompanied by Tommy and Betty characters who interact with the audience.
Inventory: E, S
Stave Dancing
Element Categories: Performing arts
Originating from Friendly Societies in southwest England, especially Somerset, Dorset, and Wiltshire, where teams of dancers carry long decorated poles (staves) over their shoulders whilst performing. Few original dances are known, with others being created from contemporary accounts.
Inventory: E
BEING SUBMITTED BY EFDSS:
English folk song
English instrumental folk music
English ceilidh / country dancing
REFERRED ON TO THE PRACTITIONERS:
Clog Making
Longsword Making
Rapper Sword Making – submitted by Frank Lee
Element Categories: Performing arts, Crafts
Rapper dancing, once confined to the coalfields of North-East England, but now a worldwide, inter-generational group activity, depends on having the hardware – rapper swords. I am the only maker of these, I’m 80 years old, and it is imperative that the craft continues after my death.
Inventory: E
What can our members do?
When this goes out to consultation for Community Consent – a vital part of the process prior to submission – we ask you to help us improve the submissions (within the word count allowed, of course!). We hope that this will be in early March 2026.
Community consultation is a very important part of submissions to the inventories, so prior to submission we will be consulting the membership of all three organisations on the wording, examples, and links to other sources of information.
When it comes to adding items to the Inventory, we may ask you to submit your own events for inclusion, but we will let you know the process for that when we know more details.
Last updated: February 2026
