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Tissington Well Dressings

Tissington, Derbyshire

Wells decorated with pictures made of flower petals.

Every spring, the villagers of Tissington decorate their wells with large pictures made by pressing flower petals, seeds and leaves into wet clay. The custom may go back to thanks for pure water during the Black Death, or even to pagan times.

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When
Recorded from 1700s
Where
53.0680, -1.7370
Group
Holy wells & springs

Visiting

The wells are dressed around Ascension Day each year. The village is near Ashbourne.

Cover of The Ledger of Lost Britain by Cale Mills
Read the full story in the book

The Ledger of Lost Britain

The Romans arrived in AD 43. For most people that is where the history of Britain begins. But by the time the legions landed, people had already been living on these islands for thousands of years. They had hunted, farmed, mined flint, dragged stones across the country, raised a hill by hand, and buried their dead in great tombs. They left no written words. What they left was the ground itself. Every place in this book can be visited, or has been dug up, or is in a museum.

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