| The Alderley Mummers' Play was connected exclusively with the Stanleys and one particular tenant family, the Barbers of Brynlow. Other Cheshire Soulers in the area had a song and a horse, but only the Barbers had a play. They performed it every Christmas at Alderley Park, often giving two performances in the 1930s, one for Lord Stanley and his guests, the other for the children from Nether Alderley School at their Christmas party.
This long-standing custom came to an end after the Stanleys sold the estate, but recently the Mummers' Play has been revived, and, no longer the exclusive property of the Barber family, it is performed in the Alderley area at Christmas, making the rounds of a number of pubs in the district. The immemorial tradition of combining Mumming with celebratory good cheer is still going strong.
The Alderley Edge Landscape Project was lucky enough to obtain a recording of Alec Barber just before he died, when he could still remember all the words of the Mummers' Play. Comparison with the present-day performance shows how the modern Mummers try to be as faithful as they can to the original.
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Themes >The Historical Landscape and its People >
The First Lord Stanley of Alderley
