Alan Dearling shares his very first experience with them on a 7 mile musical clog dance around the boundaries of Bacup…
These words and images have been expanded from what I posted on my Facebook page, where I published a selection of images and words.
Alan Dearling:
So, as Easter is nearly at its end, my weekend has largely been occupied taking and editing pics of the Coconutters of Bacup. This Lancashire town holds the Nutters dear to their hearts. They are controversial. Two of the folk involved in the Britannia Coconut Dancers and with the Stacksteads Brass Band had invited me to come along and join the merry throng.
The event takes place on Easter Saturday and is a dance-driven pub crawl. But it is one embedded in the history of the area and indeed the dance troupe itself. The dance commenced at 9 in the morning and the last scheduled dance stop was 7pm.
‘Blacking up’ is now deeply frowned upon in a large section of the Morris dancing community. This troupe believe that their black face tradition is linked to the age old coal-mines in the region. Most certainly, based on my own experience, this is an enormously popular ‘community’ event, which enjoys wide-spread local support, and it raises large amounts of financial support for local charities. This year, the beneficiaries according to the Coconutters’ website: “You help donate to our chosen charity Rossendale Hospice at the event or online at:” https://www.coconutters.co.uk/
Here’s a little of what it says about them on Wikipedia:
“There are eight dancers and a whipper-in, who controls the proceedings… Some say the custom was brought to the area by Moors who settled in Cornwall in the 17th century, became miners and then moved to work in quarries in Lancashire. A similar performance occurred in Portuguese-speaking communities such as the Afro-Brazilian ‘Dança do Coco’, a dance form precursor to the iconic Brazilian Carnival dance troupes, it is also present in the French-speaking communities’ dances – the Danse des Coco – are performed in Provence. This troupe was formed as the Tunstead Mill Nutters in 1857 when it was one of a group of five which performed in the Rossendale valley. Their dances feature floral hoops or garlands; the musical accompaniment is provided by a concertina or the Stacksteads Silver Band.”
Here’s what the Britannia Coconutters say of their own history:
“Without doubt, the ‘Britannia Coconut Dancers’ in Lancashire present an extraordinary, eccentric, exotic and unique spectacle once a year every Easter Saturday in Bacup. For over a century, astonished visitors have marvelled at the distinctive and precise movements of the dances and they have achieved a status unique in folk and traditional dance circles; although frequently associated with English Morris dance there is nothing that compares.
Our history is one based on ‘oral testimony’ handed down over one hundred and fifty years. A popular story is firmly held that the dance and the costume were brought to Rossendale Valley by Cornish tin-miners after their industry depleted. The Cornish miners took their skills to many parts the world and came to the nearby Whitworth quarries.”
More from Wikipedia:
“Their name refers to the wooden nuts worn at their knees, waists and wrists, which are made from the tops of bobbins. They are protective work gear for the hands and knees, essential in mining work involving crawling. The waist nut is a spare in case of breakage or loss of the others. These are tapped together like castanets as a percussive accompaniment to the dance, the nuts on the hands striking the nuts on the waist or knees in an intricate and dextrous rhythm. They wear white turbans with blue plumes, dark jerseys and trews, a white baldric, red and white skirts, white hose and black clogs.”
In the meanwhile(s), here is a rather lovely description of the Nuttters:
In 2014, AA Gill, writing in The Sunday Times, described them as bizarrely compelling:
“The dance begins with each Nutter cocking a hand to his ear to listen to something we human folk can’t catch. They then wag a finger at each other, and they’re off, stamping and circling, occasionally holding bent wands covered with red, white and blue rosettes that they weave into simple patterns. It’s not pretty and it’s not clever. It is, simply, awe-inspiringly, astonishingly other. Morris men from southern troupes come and watch in slack-jawed silence. Nothing in the civilised world is quite as elementally bizarre and awkwardly compelling as the Coco-nutters of Bacup.”
Before venturing to the Easter Day event in Bacup, I contacted my old school friend, Martin Frost, who is a very active member of the Morris community for advice. Here’s what he told me (with slight editing!):
“Dear fellow Al.
The issue of Blackface in the Morris tradition is a real pain in the arse.
Much has been made by the WOK brigade about how unacceptable it is even though its roots don’t seem to have any racial context. More likely coal mining dancers’ self image, or, for dis’Guising’ when out collecting/begging.
The Morris Ring/Federation have bowed to current social pressure and banned it for its members. Bacup expelled themselves… very Bacup!
All the other Blackies have adjusted to different colours or gone to half-face.
Even I have been reprimanded for posting historical photos of our Mummers.
Who dares be a rebel in these conforming times?”
MARTIN FROST MBE
And here are two responses on my Facebook page:
The tradition (as i understand) is from mining communities, and the cupping of ears and tapping, represents listening for lost miners in the pit.
Blacked out faces in Morris dancing comes from the black and white munstrals. Check out darkie day in Padstow and what it used to be called. Morris dancing is a 20th century invention to combat the influence of jaz. It is an aboma action and should be kicked thoroughly for that anti life racist parody that it is.
And a couple of other comments:
The Britannia coconutters . It’s me Linda . I lived at Britannia near Bacup so used to always follow them around the pub crawl x
Sandra Aspinall recommends The Britannia Coconut Dancers.
My husband and his dad used to play in Stacksteads band and both played for the coconutters great days and lots of great memories
Easter Saturday is their biggest performance day in the year, but rehearsals take place weekly and create their own social occasions in local hostelries! Apparently, according to Wikipedia: “In 2013, the annual performance was threatened by public sector austerity as the police and local authority threatened to withdraw support for the traffic management and security at the event.”
Here’s an older Daily Telegraph video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NWQBGsOY6s
The Coconutters may be controversial, but in their native borderlands of Lancashire and Yorkshire, they are something of a cultural institution – a part of the local heritage.
At what point does something become ‘heritage’ and therefore beyond contradiction or censure? Many historians and folkorists have clearly shown that the Cocunutters are rooted in minstrelsy, blackface and a racist tradition called Niggering where blacked-up gangs in fancy dress would terrify villagers, especially strangers, gays and foreigners – any one ‘other’. This is not rebelliousness to be admired, it is racism.
Comment by Rupert on 26 April, 2025 at 9:00 am