The Ancient Men are a touring morris side made up of past and present members of OUM.
The Ancient Men undertook their first tour in 1952, which was based at Fairford, Gloucestershire in collaboration with The Travelling Morrice. Since then they have toured far and wide, from New Mexico to Japan; more than 100 tours in over 12 countries.
To celebrate our Golden Jubilee we revisited the very first tour during August 2002, also accompanied by The Travelling Morrice.
In 2012 the Diamond Jubilee Tour was based near Pontadawe, in South Wales.
The first and only recorded tour by Oxford University Men’s Morris was based at Trefusis in Cornwall in 1929. The 90th Anniversary Tour was held in 2019.
| 20’s | 1929 0. Cornwall There was the only tour of the original Oxford University Men’s Morris, which was based at Trefusis. This is now referred to as the ‘Noughth Tour’. |
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| 50’s | 1952 1. Fairford |
1953 2. Upton-upon-Severn |
1954 3. Ludlow & Ross-on-Wye |
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| 1955 4. Cherington |
1956 No Tours! |
1957 5. Bryants Piddle |
1958 6. Grand Union Canal 7. Hawkhurst |
1959 8. Langport 9. Lavenham |
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| 60’s | 1960 10. Leicestershire & Rutland 11. West Sussex 12. Evesham |
1961 13. Cholesbury 14. Caynham |
1962 15. Bryants Piddle 16. Lake District |
1963 17. North Shropshire 18. Wessex |
1964 19. Sedlescombe 20. Durham |
| 1965 21. Somerset 22. Leicestershire & Rutland |
1966 23. Derbyshire 24. Downs |
1967 25. Glamorgan (1st foreign tour?) 26. Suffolk |
1968 27. Lake District 28. Minehead 29. Northamptonshire |
1969 30. Selby 31. Dorset |
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| 70’s | 1970 32. Lincolnshire 33. Cornwall |
1971 34. Hampshire 35. Bootle |
1972 36. Six Counties 37. Buckinghamshire |
1973 38. Evesham 39. Cheshire |
1974 40. Leicestershire 41. Wiltshire |
| 1975 42. The Fens 43. The Dales |
1976 44. The Black Country 45. Solway Firth |
1977 46. Nottinghamshire 47. Isle of Man |
1978 48. Forest of Dean 49. Black Forest |
1979 50. Cornwall 51. Somerset |
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| 80’s | 1980 52. Powys 53. Tweed |
1981 54. Five Worlds |
1982 55. Essex 56. Cumbria |
1983 57. Czechoslovakia 58. Kent 59. Hampshire |
1984 60. Herefordshire 61. Wiltshire |
| 1985 62. Devon 63. Czechoslovakia |
1986 64. Cumbria 65. Czechoslovakia |
1987 66. Hardy |
1988 67. Leicestershire |
1989 68. Suffolk |
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| 90’s | 1990 69. Donnington, (first tourette) 70. Ireland |
1991 71. Peaks 72. Cuddebackville, USA |
1992 73. Staffordshire |
1993 74. Sussex 75. Czech/Slovak Reps. |
1994 76. Northumbria 77. New Mexico 78. Tsu City, Japan |
| 1995 79. Baltic Folk Festival, Estonia 80. South Shropshire |
1996 81. Vale of Eden 82. Krackow, Poland |
1997 83. Moravia & S.Bohemia. 84. Oxfordshire |
1998 85. 2nd Canal Tour. |
1999 86. Ruthenia |
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| 00’s | 2000 87. NW Shropshire / NE Wales |
2001 88. 3 Counties Double |
2002 50 Years of Touring! 89. Croatia 90. Fairford revisited! |
2003 91. Yoshkar Ola, Russia |
2004 92. Dorset 93. Naples |
| 2005 94. Tennessee, USA 95. Malvern/Hereford |
2006 96. Wiltshire |
2007 97. Funchal, Madeira 98. Briéfne, Ireland 99. The Solent |
2008 100.Kampala, Uganda 101. Tavy & Tamar |
2009 102. Nairobi, Kenya 103. North Chilterns |
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| 10’s | 2010 104. Kaliningrad Oblast 105. Cumbria |
2011 106. West Sussex |
2012 60 Years of Touring! 107. S. Glamorgan ‘The Diamond Tour’ |
2013 108. Offa’s Dyke |
2014 109. N&E Herts. |
| 2015 110. West Clare, Ireland |
2016 111. Wye Valley |
2017 112. North Somerset |
2018 113. West Cork & South Kerry, Ireland |
2019 114. Cornwall (90th Anniversary) |
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| 20’s | 2020 No tours due to COVID-19 restrictions |
2021 |
2022 70 Years of Touring! |
2023 | 2024 |
notes:
- The first tour in 1952 and the Golden Jubilee Tour in 2002 were in association with The Travelling Morrice.
- There were no tours in 1956 & 2020
- The St Patrick’s Day Parades, Dublin, 1992-1997 are not included
Oxford University Morris (OUM) 