When is well dressing derbyshire

First take a wooden board, perhaps 4 feet wide, and over an inch deep. Some dressings take several boards, of different shapes and sizes. The board s are taken to the local river or pond and soaked for several days to ensure that they are really wet.

Then they are covered with a layer of soft, wet clay onto which the artist etches the design. The materials used vary from village to village and depend also on the time of year that the dressing takes place. A well dressing can take up to 7 days, involving a team of local people. Unfortunately, it may then only last a week or so until the clay dries out and the flowers die.

Then all is put away until next year. Well dressing starts in May — Tissington and Endon are two villages who dress their wells early in the year. Castleton, in the heart of the Peak District, is renowned for epitomising the quintessentially classic English hamlet, for its wealth of local history, and for being a major Peak District walking centre. Folklore destinations throughout the UK, where traditional and cultural events and ceremonies take place.

When did well dressing begin and why did it begin in Derbyshire? Every year, from May to September, the wells in each village are decorated with elaborate pictures. Each one is made entirely from natural materials such as flower petals, seeds, leaves, berries, mosses, wood and sheep wool.

However, the village of Tissington in Derbyshire has records of some form of basic well dressing dating as far back as , in thanks for the village escaping the Black Death that ravaged England at that time. More recently Well Dressing has evolved into a celebration of wells and springs, which of course would have had enormous significance in villages in the days before fresh water was available in our homes on tap.

A Well Dressing is essentially a large picture created from natural materials pressed into clay that has been applied into wooden boards. The first stage is for the boards to be soaked in water for weeks beforehand to soften them. The wet clay is then kneaded to make it pliable and remove air pockets, and it is smoothed into the boards to create a flat, even surface.

The design for the well dressing is drawn onto large sheets of paper which are laid out onto the clay, and the design is then pricked through to create an outline of the image on the clay. Holiday Cottage Index. Holiday Cottage Search. Ashbourne Holiday Cottages. Bakewell Holiday Cottages. Buxton Holiday Cottages. Castleton Holiday Cottages. Hartington Holiday Cottages. Hathersage Holiday Cottages.

Matlock Holiday Cottages. Farm-based Self Catering.