The side began as the Staploe Hundred Morris Men in 1975. Various changes around 1980-81 turned Staploe into the Devil's Dyke Morris Men, and we adopted this badge.

The image represents, at the bottom, the low-lying watery areas of the fens, contrasted with the (somewhat) higher and more densely wooded lands of the area to the south of the fens. This reflects the mix of landscapes in which we dance.

In between the fens and the woods stands the Devil's Dyke, represented by the black and white line in the middle of the badge. The Dyke is a massive earthwork which stretches some 7 miles from Woodditton to Reach. It was built in the dark ages, during the 6th or 7th century, to keep out marauding Mercians. Strategically it was well placed across a bottleneck between dense woodlands and the waters of the Fens, as the logo emphasises. The Dyke was quite effective in keeping out cattle raiders, but not so good when it came to holding out against a proper army. In the mid 7th century Penda, King of Mercia, decided that a full scale take-over was necessary, and the local warrior king Anna (recently converted to Christian pacifism) couldn't hold the line, falling in battle somewhere near Exning in 654. Much of the Dyke is still impressively intact, and makes an excellent half day's walk. We danced along it in May 1991 to raise money for VSO and for local charities, and again in 2001.

The dyke is presently the subject of a multi-agency project to restore it. See the web site www.devilsdykeproject.org.uk

See also the Reach web site for more about the Dyke.