The group evolved during 1974 through a series of workshops within the Merrie England Folk Song Club, Eastbourne, East Sussex.   Today it is a group of friends performing traditional drama around East Sussex.   The groups is now amongst the most experienced revival teams in the country with a repertoire of plays covering the entire season of English Ritual Drama.   Performances may commence with an extract from the long sword dance of North Skelton, Yorkshire and normally end with a programme of English traditional folk songs.

Merrie England perform at a number of sites in Sussex during the winter months and may normally be seen on Boxing Day each year at:

 The Tiger Inn,         East Dean                   12.30 noon

 The Dewdrop Inn,   Peacehaven                 13.30 hours

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In addition to regular appearances throughout Sussex each winter the group have performed at the following major events:

Bognor Regis, Sussex                          Folk Festival                      1988
Brighton, Sussex                                             Festival Fringe                         1980, 1981, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1995
Broadstairs, Kent                                            Folk Show                                   1975, 1976, 1981, 1982, 1995, 1996
Crawley, Sussex                                               Folk Festival                             1991, 1995
Eastbourne, Sussex                                        Folk Festival                             1976, 1977, 1982, 1993, 1994
Firle, Sussex                                                      Folk Festival                             1991, 1992
Hastings, Sussex                                              Jack in the Green                    1997
Cecil Sharp House, London                         E.F.D.S.S. Ceilidh                     1975
Barbican Centre, London                             Foyer Show                                1986 (twice), 1988
Loughborough, Leics                          National Festival                 1976
Michelham Priory, Sussex                    Folk Night                          1976, 1977, 1992
Rochester, Kent                                   'Sweeps' May Ceremony      1988
Rye, Sussex                                          Medieval Fayre                  1979, 1981
Waldron, Sussex                                   Wassail Ceremony             1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
Wareham, Dorset                                             Folk Harvest                              1983, 1985, 1987, 1988
Wells, Somerset                                               Medieval Fayre                         1982
Tubingen, Germany                                       Folk Festival                             1977
Heidelberg, Germany                                    Folk Festival                              1977
Tauberischofsheim, Germany                    Folk Festival                             1986

 LOCATION                            SEASON                    PLAY TYPE
 Rudheath, Cheshire                 Oct/Nov, All Souls           Hero Combat/Soul Cake
 Firle, East Sussex                       Dec. Christmas              Hero Combat
 Ovingdean, East Sussex          Dec. Christmas             Hero Combat
  Selmeston, East Sussex        Dec. Christmas             Hero Combat
 Cocking, West Sussex               Dec. Christmas             Hero Combat
 Fittleworth, West Sussex          Dec. Christmas              Hero Combat
 Steyning, West Sussex             Dec. Christmas              Hero Combat
 Gainford, Co. Durham               Dec. Christmas             Sword Dance
 Kempsford, Gloucester            Dec. Christmas             Hero Combat/Robin Hood
 Cropwell Bishop, Notts            Jan. Plough Monday     Courtship/Plough Play
 Plumtree, Notts                           Jan. Plough Monday     Courtship/Plough Play
 Far & Near Sawrey, Cumbria   March/April Easter        Hero Combat/Pace Egg
 Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria       March/April Easter        Hero Combat/Pace Egg
 Ulverston, Cumbria                     March/April Easter        Hero Combat/Pace Egg

 Mon  26 Dec  12:30    The Tiger,                                                 East Dean
                         13:30    The Dewdrop Inn, Steyning Aven.     Peacehaven

The group welcomes copies of photographs, press cuttings or similar material relating either to traditional events or their own performances.

By the end of the nineteenth century, despite changes within society resulting from the industrial revolution, the villages of England remained socially isolated and much of everyday life was ruled by folklore and local customs. This was often based on superstition and primitive rituals with wisewomen, country cures and medicines and charms for events such as birth, death, marriage and tasks like churning butter, baking or brewing. Alongside this was the rural calendar, which reflected the ever changing seasons, welded the population into a tight community with dancing, plays and ritual.

Even today many of these customs linger on as part of the collective wisdom of village communities. Of these practices, Mumming Plays have proved to be the most persistent and while few 'traditional' performances survive, they were widely known in towns and villages - each with their own variant - until the 1914-18 war decimated the male population.

The origins of this Ritual are lost in history and while the early theories about it being based on pre Christian primitive magic with a theme of death and rebirth are not substantiated by any evidence there are, nevertheless, records of the custom dating back some 250 years.

Historically, in England, the drama was performed in the old style winter months commencing at All Souls (31 October) and ending at Easter although appearances were most common at Christmas when players collected money to augment low winter earnings.  It is this socio-economic aspect of the performance which modern theories focus on as a key element in the birth and survival of the tradition.

Traditionally performers were always men, even when a female character was required. While early theories suggested that to be recognised broke the 'luck' brought by the players causing them to hide their identity by dressing in disguise consisting of strips of paper or rag attached to ordinary clothes which completely covered the wearer, including the face, modern thinking tends to see the disguise as a simple means of avoiding identification by authorities concerned with the 'rough' behaviour and begging aspect of the performance.  This style of costume appears to have survived longest in the rural Southern counties but eventually performers began to dress according to the character.

In this country three distinct forms of the play exist. The most common is called Hero Combat in which each performer enters in turn, introduces his character by name and proceeds in rhyme to issue challenge and counter challenge. A fight follows in which a player is 'killed' only to be revived by a Quack Doctor. This form includes both Soul Cake plays from Cheshire performed at All Souls in the autumn and Pace Egg plays from the North West performed at Easter.

Of the other forms, one - from the East Midlands - is normally performed in early January on Plough Monday and has, in addition to the Hero Combat scene, a courtship sequence and representation of three generations of life with an old couple, a young couple and a baby while the other, found only in the North East, combines the dramatic action with an intricate 'sword' dance in which performers link themselves together with strips of wood or metal and the 'death' results from the action of the entire group.

These forms of the ritual are unique to England but similar traditions have been noted from the Pyrenees, through the Swiss-German border area, Rumania, Thrace and Macedonia in the Balkans to Skyros in the Aegean.

 Bob Foyle            Moved to            Now living in Ireland.
                              Hannover,             
                              Germany in the      
                              Autumn of 1974

 Terry Lees          Living in                Acclaimed guitarist, Winner of
                              Eastbourne           National Guitarist of the Year
                              East Sussex          competition at NEC Birmingham
                                                          in 2000 having been runner up at
                                                          Wembley in 1998

 Mike Anderson   Living in               Still performing regularly with
                              Heathfield            Merrie England Mummers.
                              East Sussex.

 Colin Haverson   Moved to            Now living in Middlesborough.
                              Yorkshire in the    
                              Autumn of 1974

 Ray Langton       Now living in         An established Morris and
                              Shrewsbury          Ceilidh band musician.  Well
                              Shropshire            known as the Children’s Festival
                                                          Producer at Sidmouth
                                                          International Festival.

 Clive Bennett     Living in Hove       Co-organiser of Seaford Folk
                              East Sussex          Song Club. East Sussex
                                                          Bagman of Merrie England
                                                          Mummers and still performing
                                                          regularly with the group.

 Alastair Turner   Living in               Still performing regularly with
                              Eastbourne          Merrie England Mummers.