Mumming Plays take their name from the Masked plays of the middle ages. The name comes from the old French "mommeur", which itself derived from an old Teutonic word, "mumme" - a mask. They have been recorded in England for at least 800 years, and at one time they were presented with much magnificence. John Stow records an entertainment given by the City of London in 1377 to Richard II, just before his accession, with 130 actors, representing the Emperor and his knights, the Pope and his cardinals, and accompanied by torchlight and grand musical accompaniment. In the days of Queen Elizabeth 1, John Milton's masque "Comus" was another flamboyant production, written esprcially for performing before her Majesty and the court.

The style of entertainment percolated down to village level, and for hundreds of years, bands of Mummers would travel around local villages, performing plays (frequently in the local pub) which had many of the same components as the traditional British pantomime, and is surely a forerunner of it. There is always A "goodie" and a "baddie" - a fight between them, seeming disaster, miraculous restoration, often assisted by numerous extra characters if necessary, and a generally happy ending.

The plan of the plays and the characters included varied from district to district - here is a delightful remeniscence of the
Wheeler End Mumming Play which was acted in Buckinghamshire in the 19th century, described by H Harman in the book "Countryside Mood", Published in 1943.