Clog Dancing Competitions have come and gone in all shapes and sizes over the years.
Clog Dancing Competitions have come and gone in all shapes and sizes over the years. We list below some of the most well-known and long running examples. Bear in mind that there has never been any overall authority governing clog dancing contests. They were simply set up from time to time by individuals, in the early days often theatre managers.
World Clog Dancing Championships 1880-1910  The world clog dancing championships were held irregularly from 1880 until 1910, mostly organised by theatre impresario J.H. Wood. Originally almost all the entrants were professional music hall performers, the competition being famously won by Dan Leno in 1883 in Oldham |  |
| Northumberland and Durham Clog Dance Championships 1908-1951. These competitions, for entrants from both counties, were probably held before 1908 but that is the first event for which details have been found. After 1908 there was a gap until 1935 when the championships were revived, however they petered out during World War 2, being revived again by the EFDSS in 1949. |  |
| Four Northern Counties Championships 1976-2000 Initially organised by Co. Durham dancer Johnson Ellwood, the competitions were held each year at the Durham Folk Festival until that event’s demise Although in theory covering Northumberland, Durham, Cumberland and Westmorland in practice the dancers, all of whom were amateurs, came from, the former two counties. |  |