Dave,

this is seriously fascinating:

"Some useful hints are given in "The great diurnall of Nicholas Blundell of Little Crosby, Lancashire": 16th June 1715 "Mrs Barker, my Wife and I went to Ailes Mellings, we saw the Morris Dansers of Sefton as were going their Round in order to Rear a May-Pole in Sefton..."; 9th July 1715 "The Little Boyes & Girles of this Town diverted themselves with Rearing a May-pole in the West-Lane, they had Morrys dansing & a great many came to it both old and young ..."; and 24th June 1721 "... coming home I overtook the Morris Dansers as were going to Flower the May-Pole in Magull".

Blundell did not remark on any significant difference between the Morris dancers of Lancashire and those he had seen previously in Gloucestershire in 1703."

From the Abram site.

I separated this last sentence because it strongly suggests, as do other elements of the site, that Abram is the surviving link to Cotswold in the sense that a style of morris akin to Cotswold existed in Lancashire before industrialisation and Urban clog morris.

Do you belive this to be true?