The Winster Guisers are a group who perform a traditional mummers play in and around the village of Winster, Derbyshire, UK, during the Christmas season. Their performance is based on a photograph taken c. 1870 outside Winster Hall showing an unidentified set of performers about whom little is known for certain. The Winster Guisers' play is not local to the area, but is a revival (dating from 1980) of a Cheshire play, chosen because it features a hobby horse similar to the one in the centre of the old photograph. A "guiser" (sometimes spelled "guizer") is someone in disguise, though in the Winster area the term was widely used for the teams of Christmas mummers. Historical context In the mid 19th century, guisers (mummers) were evidently common in Derbyshire in the week between Christmas and New Year, as can be seen from the notes below, which record around a dozen visits to Winster Hall in the four days 26–30 December 1867. The village of Winster also has a long-established morris dance tradition. Although the first documentary evidence of morris dancing in Winster dates only from 1863, it seems to have been well established by then. The famous pioneering folklorist Cecil Sharp visited the village in 1908 and noted five dances, including The Processional and The Gallop. All the dancers are men or boys, dressed in white; a full team numbers 16. There are four other characters, also men: the King and Queen, who preside over the dancing, and the Jester (formerly known as the Fool) and the Witch, who entertain the crowd, as Cecil Sharp described: "The dancers danced in procession … through the streets of Winster, stopping at certain places to perform one or two of their stationary dances. The King headed the procession, marching in step with the music … the Queen and the musician walked by the side of the dancers; the Fool and the Witch ran about clearing the way." The Winster Hall photograph The photograph (right) taken at Winster Hall, Derbyshire, in about 1870 (probably by or for Llewellynn Jewitt (1816–1886), who lived at the house between 1868 and 1880) shows a possibly unique midwinter custom involving three hobby horses. (The picture appears to have been taken in winter, as the climbing plants on the wall are leafless.) Eight or nine performers are involved; all (bar one?) have facial disguise. It has been claimed to