Founded in 1956 as “Mendip Morris Men”, although since 2018 they’ve been a mixed side. They are based in Congresbury, south of Bristol, in the Mendip Hills and dance around the Somerset/North Somerset area.
Their repertoire is predominantly in the Cotswold style but also includes dances from the Welsh Borders, North-West clog dances from Lancashire and North East sword dances from Yorkshire.
They have a long history of travel to foreign events throughout Europe, having made 45 trips since the early 1990s as well as attending festivals and Days of Dance around the UK.
Mendip wear black breeches, white shirts, red socks and can be identified by our red, gold and blue baldricks with two distinctive badges. On the front is a Wyvern the mythical beast which forms the Somerset crest while on the back is King Alfred’s Jewel. Alfred was the Anglo Saxon king of Wessex and his jewel was discovered in 1693 and is held in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.