The Goathland  Plough Stots

'We're Goodlan Pleeaf Stots com'd ageaan
All decked wi' ribbon's fair
Seea noo we'll do the best we can
An' the best can deaa neea mair'

(Frank Dowson 1936)

The 15th January 2000 was a cold but bright winters day in Goathland village on the North York Moors. At around 10AM a small crowd had gathered outside the village Reading Room where the men and young lads of the Goathland Plough Stots were getting ready. On this occasion, (to mark the new millennium) they were joined by two visiting sword dance teams, the Sallyport Sword dancers from Newcastle and the Dansgroep Lange Wapper, who had traveled all the way from Antwerp.

The Plough Stots lined up to form a procession led by the "Gentleman" who was dressed in top hat and tails and held aloft a banner which read "God Speed the Plough". Immediately behind him were the young lads team who pulled a wooden model of an old style plough and behind these were the older men along with the "Tom" and the "Awd Man". This whole group then set off up the main street, accompanied by music from the accordion and fiddle player.
The parade turned off the road to assemble in front of the village shops, where the sword dancers formed into three teams and as the music started again they raised their swords and began to circle, weaving in and out and over and under the swords until finally the swords were meshed together to form the "Lock" or "Rose" which was then held aloft by the leader or "King".

Then it was the turn of the Sallyport sword dancers to display their sword rapping skills. This team used swords made from very flexible steel which could be bent almost double and meant they could twist and weave very tight and intricate patterns into their performance, which at one point involved a man doing a shoulder roll over the swords. All the while the dancers received good natured heckling and Geordie banter from other members of the teams.

Soon after this the sound of fiddle, pipe and drum could be heard as the Belgium team marched up the main street, where they were greeted by the Plough Stots "Gentleman" who saluted them as they turned off the road to assemble in front of Brereton lodge. Then to the sound of a solitary drum beat, the 10 men formed a large circle, laying their swords on the ground in front of them. As the musicians started to play, the men linked together by picking up an end of each sword and then began to circle, weaving in and out or over and under the swords, then forming an arch for the team to pass under, all the while still linked together.

As they danced a jester fooled about among the watching crowd and also tried to distract the team but at one point he got too close to the action and he was pulled in among the dancers, who surrounded him and pushed him to the ground, then a sword was lifted up and brought down onto the jester in a mock execution. Thus dispatched the jester was carried off, but he soon sprang back to life to continue his mischief.
As the sword dance resumed the swords were again locked together to form a solid platform onto which the leader stepped and he was then lifted up so he stood at shoulder height above the dancers. From this vantage point he proceeded to display the teams colours, sweeping the air with a great red flag on a long pole.
At the end of the display the owners of the house treated the team and musicians with mulled wine and cake.

From this point on the sword dance teams split into two groups and headed off to opposite ends of the village where they performed for the inhabitants and also collected money for charity. The teams eventually met down the road in Beckhole for a final display of sword dancing skill before retiring to the warmth for some food and refreshment, and on a chilly day in January who can blame them.

Top 4 photo's are the Plough Stots,
then two of the Sallyport team and the
last 3 are the DansGroep Lange Wappe.