Custom · Tissington · Famous
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Pictures of petals for water that never failed.
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Village open to visitors; dressings on display for about a week from Ascension Day. Check dates.
Six wells in flower pictures. The village says its water kept the Black Death away.
Tissington, a small estate village near Ashbourne, dresses six wells each year with pictures pressed into clay boards from petals and other natural materials. Villagers have long said the custom began after Tissington escaped the Black Death, which they put down to the purity of its well water. Other explanations include a pagan thanks for water or a drought in 1615. Wikipedia notes, however, that dressing with clay boards at Tissington is not recorded before 1818, and simple garlands not before 1758. The 2026 dressings ran from 14 to 20 May, beginning with a church dedication.