E. C. Cawte made a comprehensive listing of accounts of border morris in his article "The morris dance in Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire". The earliest reference to morris is from 1584, the earliest account of dancing dates from the early 17th century, the first mention of black faces is from the 1870s (see the commentary in the Morris Ring's survey of literature on blacking up for confirmation of this: www.themorrisring.org/sites/default/files/attachments/Blacking%20up--a%20literature%20survey--Strudwick.pdf). Older than many of us but not quite as ancient as some people seem to believe.