The last squire of Kings Weston, Philp Napier Miles, was well known for his love of music. When not composing he was actively promoting local musicians and choral groups, championing a national English opera, and setting up the city’s music festival; sadly, such things are now largely forgotten. Even less well known was his dedication to country dancing.

With dance so fundamental to so much English folk music it’s perhaps unsurprising that his interest was piqued. The pre-WWI era was a period when many composers were still keenly hunting out tradditional melodies for preservation and inspiration. The exodus of the rural population into the cities during the Victorian period threatened the loss of tradditional customs and, like many ladies and gentlemen of the age, Napier Miles seems to have been as keen to protect dances as part of the nation’s heritage.

The English Folk Dance Society was set up in 1911 to collect dances, publish and teach them. By 1926, Napier Miles was chairman of the county executive of the society and frequently offered up Kings Weston for dance festivals and demonstrations. The first such festival seems to have been held in 1923 and annual events continued through the 1930s. They were grand summer events held on the lawns outside the house in the summer months, either June or July, and well attended, 300 spectators being reported in some years.

Napier Miles’s good friend Ralph Vaughan Williams interested in folk music and dance beginning collecting music as early as 1903. Later he became first president of the English Folk Dance and Song Society when it formed in 1932. It’s perhaps unsurprising that he was a regular visitor to the festivals put on by Miles.

The event we know most about, one when Vaughan Williams was present, was held in 1926. Marques were erected for the serving of teas which were, no doubt, essential in sustaining the dancers and spectators for five hours of a summer afternoon while over 40 dances were performed. There was a mix of local dancers and those from EFDS headquarters in Letchworth with some “open” dances where all present were invited to participate. In Vaughan Williams own words, the event presented a “fascinating sight on the lawns of Kings Weston”. As the event closed at 8pm, the sun would have been low in the sky over the Severn and an idyllic scene created as the participants left for home.