PARWICH.ORG

Today is the day when each Well has to be finished ready for the 6pm setting up.  From lunchtime on Day 2 and throughout Day 3 this is probably the most satisfying and varied part of the dressing, as we are now placing different coloured petals to create the side pieces, which will complement the central picture.  Some petals, like the hydrangeas are easier (I didn’t say easy) to work with, because the petal is thicker.  (Most pictures will enlarge if you click on them.)

Working with the kingcups or marsh marigolds are much harder, the petals are thin, tear easily and you have to be extremely careful when pressing them into the clay, so as not to get any clay on the petals or bruise them. Continue Reading »

Yew Tree Well, the Well Dressing that I help out on is a real family affair.  The centre of operations is in a barn behind a couple of large farmhouses where 4 generations of the Carr family live, in fact they have been in Tissington for exactly 99 years.  Christopher Carr helped out on this well as a child and saw the Well Dressings restarted in 1950 after the war.  In 1966 Barbara his wife got involved and then their children as soon as they were big enough to perch on a stool and add the petals.  Their son Edward soon had his new wife, Margaret, involved (it probably formed part of the marriage ceremony – “…in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, well dressings each year, till death us do part…”. After only two years Margaret then took over the designing of this well and has done so for the past 19 years. Continue Reading »

Well (sorry for the pun), but it is that time of the year again, the Tissington Well Dressings. The date for the opening of the Dressings falls on Ascension Day, this year Thursday 21st May. However, since I got involved, only my third year, the real marker is when the weather deteriorates and it gets cold again. This afternoon you could actually see your breath as you spoke. So out come the thermal long johns, blue silk this year, two thermal vests, a sweatshirt, apron and walking boots (not a pretty picture – so I haven’t inflicted one you). The apron is vital, because it is guaranteed that within 2 minutes of walking into the barn, via a very muddy field, you brush against the boards and get covered in clay – you can’t help but get messy – it’s like being a child again and I love it.

The Tissington Well Dressings are the oldest in Derbyshire (and certainly the best – not that I am biased). Some like Wirksworth were started in 1827 and several far more recently in the 1990’s like Hathersage & Whitwell. The exact date of Tissington’s is unclear, possibly dating back as early as the 14th century, when Tissington escaped the ravages of the Black Death or after the drought of 1615.

What we do know, is that there was written evidence in 1748 by Nicholas Hardinge, the Clerk of the House of Commons, (and of course if the information comes from the House of Commons it must be honest, reputable and true – sorry couldn’t resist the dig). Continue Reading »