Much of the information in the Welsh Morris section of this Web site is derived from the book Traditional Dance and Customs in Wales by Lois Blake and published by the excellent Gwynn Publishing Co.

Unfortunately this data is not presented as best as it could be. The copy I saw was found by Jill Wallington of Clerical Error, a North Wales Welsh Border Team, in about 1991. She lent it to me, and in the absence of a photocopier, I typed it into a computer, and had a neighbour Iona Pierce translate the Welsh section. As I had copied it for my own use, I may have modified snippets or merged details from other sources. I did not have the foresight to recognise its later potential on the Internet.I do believe that these changes are minor, and the presentation in hypertext form is an improvement. It should be noted that the information is presented with Morris Dancers in mind.

I have since heard that this book is now out of print, and will investigate this later with the publisher.

The following is part of the forward :

In this small book, I have endeavoured to fill in the gaps that were left by my previous "Welsh Folk Dance and Costume". Our experience has greatly increased, since that was written and many people, throughout Wales have contributed to our knowledge. My thanks are due to W.S.Gwynn Williams who first interested me in Welsh folk dance and has allowed me to quote from his standard work, "Welsh National Music and Dance". We must acknowledge our debt to Mrs.Margretta Thomas and her daughter Ceinwen, not only for their contribution of recollected dances, but for their descriptions of Nantgarw in the 1890's. We thank Gwyn Williams for allowing us to publish his article on Clog dancing in the Appendix, and we thank Emrys Cleaver for all his help in reading my drafts and correcting my spelling and all other members of Cymdeithas Ddawns Werin for their help and encouragement.

Thanks must also be given to the Welsh Amateur Music Federation for financial assistance in the publication of the first edition of this book.

The Dance Manuals, published between 1650 and 1825, have proved another source of dance material (Welsh Folk Dance and Costume. Lois Blake). From them we have drawn many of our simpler dances, choosing them by their Welsh names or by tunes well known in Wales. We are aware that these have not necessarily any connection with Wales; it is what the dancers put into them that makes them our own. The same practice has been carried out by the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society. They have adopted a large number of dances from the later dancing masters, many of them in triple sets, and have knocked them into a uniform shape of dances for four couples.