In pictures: Oxford's May Morning

Thousands of people congregated to hear hymns and bell-ringing at daybreak

A record-breaking 27,000 people have descended on Oxford for its annual spring celebration.

The May Morning festival, whose origins are unclear, has been a tradition for more than 500 years.

It began with crowds listening to the Magdalen College Choir serenade the congregation from Magdalen Tower at daybreak.

The bells were then rung - the movement of which typically makes the tower sway up to 4in (10cm).

Magdalen College Choir climbed 144ft (41m) to the top of the Magdalen Tower

Crowds flooded in from the north and the south of the River Cherwell

Morris men paraded and danced through the streets of Oxford

A predicted 150 performers from across the region attended - some with rather untraditional costumes

Morris dancing was revived by Cecil Sharp in 1899, and since then people of all ages have taken up the past-time

The Hurly Burly Whirly band got crowds moving outside the Weston Library with their unique brand of tin whistle music