KKBYSHIKB IrCH^OLOGICAL 



AND 



Satural Mistorv Society. 



■^ 



By Mrs. Meade-Waldo. 



jN these days of change, when so many things which 



link the present with the past are being swept aside 



and forgotten, and the old speech, the old customs, 



are becoming rarer every day, it may be appropriate 



to give some account of the well-dressing which takes place 



every year at Tissington, and hazard an attempt to show how 



It may have come down to us from the very remote past a 



legacy from our predecessors who, two thousand or more years 

 ago, peopled the hills and valleys of this country of ours, and 

 rejoiced over the bountiful supply of good water, as do their 

 successors at Tissington to-day. 



On Ascension Day, or, as it is often called in these part.s, 

 Holy Thursday, the wells at Tissington are all decorated. 

 Frames made of thin board are filled with clay, and on this 

 foundation all kinds of designs are worked in flowers, berries, 

 and lichens. Mottoes, elaborate borders, even pictures, are to 

 be seen. At the well-dressing in 1900 one well had a medallion 

 portrait of the Queen, who.se birthday fell on Ascension Day 

 that year, and another had a view of Wind.sor Castle. This 

 VOL. XXIV. 



