Tissington Well Dressing

Last week DH and I (and Bilbo Baggins of course!) went to Tissington in Derbyshire to see the Well Dressing. Perhaps it would be truer to say that I went to see the Well Dressing and DH and BB came along for the ride:) Here is a link to a post I did in 2007 which gives the history of well dressing and a brief explanation of how the panels are made. Tissington dresses six wells and it has a history of doing so since the mid 14th century with very few breaks. Tissington escaped the ravages of the Black Death in 1348-49 and the villagers believed that this was thanks to the purity of their well water. Above is the first of the wells on our tour which is known as Hands Well. You will see more detail if you click on the photos to enlarge them.

A one way system is in place during the well dressing week and we parked in a field and were given a little map of the village with all the wells marked. Just up the lane from Hands Well was this fabulous stone trough which has probably been there nearly as long as the wells.

This is Coffin Well and if you look at the shape of the well you can see why. 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Royal Flying Corps which eventually became the Royal Air Force in 1919.

DH took a photo of Coffin Well which shows the shape more clearly than mine does. He's a much better photographer than I am:)

This is the village pond - spot the ducks:) There's no doubt that Tissington is a remarkably pretty village but it was jam packed when we were there as it was the first warm sunny day since March.

This was my favourite well dressing by a long way - I love The Gruffalo stories and so do all my grandchildren. Two elderly ladies who were looking at it didn't know the story so I gave them a brief outline and they said I should be telling stories on television! I don't think so......

Yew Tree Well - if you look at the sides of the main picture you will see the emblems of England - rose, Scotland - thistle, Ireland - shamrock and Wales - leeks.

Tissington Hall which I shall go back and visit one day when the village isn't so busy. Built in 1609 by Francis Fitzherbert it is still lived in by his descendents.

Hall Well which unsurprisingly is across the road from the Hall. I love the seahorses and shells on this one. This was B Baggins favourite because a channeled stream runs down the side of the road from here so he was able to lie down and cool off and have a drink though we always carry water and a small plastic dish for him in hot weather.

St Mary's church dates back to about 1100 and is another place to go back to on a quieter day, it is probably a lovely interior but it was so full of chairs, a screen and video equipment and various other stuff that you could barely tell it was a church at all. They were having hourly film shows about Well Dressing hence not only the normals pews but the extra chairs.

I did take a couple of photos but had to just stand where I could find a space so none of them are very good. This is a monument to Francis Fitzherbert (lower section) who died in 1619 and his son John Fitzherbert (upper section) who died in 1642 - I'm not sure whether this is a tomb or a memorial. Francis is the one who built Tissington Hall.

There is a wonderful Norman chancel arch but this is all I can show you because the rest was covered by the film screen!. It has the typical chevron decoration of the period. I did a course on recognizing diffrent periods of church architecture last year and though I don't remember much I can always pick out Norman windows and arches now:)

The simple tub shaped font is carved with rather rustic looking animals but it's over 900 years old which makes it rather special I think. I crouched on the floor wedged between a chair and the entrance to take this, I couldn't get round it or move further back so it is what it is.

The last of the wells was the Children's Well which is decorated by the children from the village school. I imagine that many of the adult well dressers will have learnt their skills as children. It is a skill too, making one of these pictures is time consuming and fiddly.

Finally on the way back to the car we passed this lovely old barn. There were lots of lovely old buildings in Tissington and a really fantastic shop called Edward & Vintage so we shall be going back at some point. I shall be gone for a few days now as early tomorrow morning I'm off to Suffolk to spend the Jubilee weekend with my son Neil and his family. Have a great Bank Holiday weekend if you are in the UK and just a great weekend if you are elsewhere in the world. Many Commonwealth countries will be celebrating Her Majesty the Queen's 60 years on the throne with us of course, it will be a great occasion .