If you visit Derbyshire from May onwards you are likely to see some beautiful
decorations along the roadside,
usually close to an old well,
spring or water
fountain.
Take a closer look and you will see that these detailed pictures,
which look like
gorgeous paintings,
are actually made entirely of individual flower petals,
moss,
seeds,
twigs and tiny stones. This is the ancient tradition of Well Dressing.
As water was an essential part of life in rural communities,
it is likely that Well
Dressing began as a pagan ritual to the water gods either in thanks for past supplies or
as a petition for future water. The tradition is known to date back to Roman times,
although it was probably an even older Celtic custom.
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Well Dressings today often coincide with religious festivals and the pictures are
often of saints or religious scenes.
How a Well Dressing is Made
Local artists and villagers sketch out the design for their Well Dressing ahead of the
actual event. A generous amount of natural clay is collected about a week before the Well
Dressing is constructed and
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it is then "puddled" to soften it. A little water and salt is
added to the clay to soften it and the well dressers walk over it,
treading it like
grapes to remove any small stones,
grit,
twigs and other matter that may cause bumps in
the clay bed.
The base of the construction is a large wooden frame filled with nails. Onto this
"bed" they spread the prepared clay about 25mm (one inch) thick. The picture is outlined
using tiny seeds or small stones and the images are then filled in using natural
material.
Hydrangea petals make a wonderful sky,
moss creates greenery and bark is used for
trees and buildings. It takes an experienced "well dresser" about seven hours of
painstaking work to complete a Well Dressing and the finished decoration only lasts about
one week.
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The petals are laid from the bottom of the picture upwards so that they overlap like
tiles,
allowing any rain to run off. However,
wind is the biggest enemy of any Well
Dressing as it dries the clay and the petals start to blow away. The colour,
shading and
detail of the Well Dressings using mainly flower petals make them a breathtaking work of
art.
Where to See Well Dressings
Well Dressings are found mainly in the small villages of the Peak District and
Derbyshire. The most famous village for Well
Dressing is Tissington,
which holds its Well Dressing
on Ascension Day and is one of the earliest. The village has six wells and each of them
gets its own special Well Dressing.
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The delightful village of Ashford has six wells
which are dressed the last week in May; Bakewell (home
of the Bakewell tart) has no functioning wells but has five Well Dressings at the end of
June followed by the Hathersage and Stoney Middleton
Well Dressings the first week in July.
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Other villages with noteworthy Well Dressing are Tideswell,
Wirksworth and
Youlgrave. Finally,
Eyam's Well Dressing is the last week in August,
so plan your
Derbyshire visit accordingly!
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