History of Devizes Country Dance Festival/Eisteddfod/Longsword Dance especially

[Keith Sherwood]

Hi, Everyone,
Another query from me about Wiltshire in the 1950's, and indeed before or after, with regard to what used to be a Devizes Country Dance Festival that our school used to participate in when I was there between 1955 and 1960.  And perhaps today has become the Devizes Eisteddfod.
Are there any publications out there about this Festival which I think I read somewhere has existed in one form or another for 70 years.
I am also particularly interested in the Longsword Dancing, for which we always entered a Team A with metal swords, and a Team B with wooden swords.  And won prizes.  I have read too that this unusual form of Dance originated in certain parts of Yorkshire, though apparently there is a 1771 local reference to it by Gilbert White when he was writing his famous diary at that time in Hampshire.
Keith

[Spelk]

The dancing with "longswords" I think was probably practised all over.
It you watch the TV programme Heartbeat set in North York Moors you will see on the wall of the pub six interlocked wooden swords.
You can see similar dancing with swords in the film "The Wickerman"; near the end when the policeman is dressed as Punch.

[Keith Sherwood]

Fascinating stuff, Spelk,
I've since spotted an article on the internet about a group of Longsword dancers performing a dance particular to the area in Greatham near Hartlepool last Boxing Day...
Many thanks for your response,  I only ever represented our school in our B team, with those wooden swords.  Not nearly so exciting when we bashed them together as the noise the A team made with their metal ones!
Keith