4 TISSINGTON WELL-DRESSING. 



adopted, as tradition says, as a thanksgiving for the plentiful 

 and unfailing water supply with which Tissington is blessed, 

 a good supply of water being by no means the rule in the 

 limestone country. The water at Tissington must come from 

 a considerable depth, as may l)e proved by the fact that the tem- 

 perature is the same — about 47 degrees Fahrenheit — both in 

 hot or cold weather, and it is likely that it is " held up " by 

 rocks of volcanic origin, there being evidences of volcanic 

 action in many parts of the immediate neighbourhood. 



It is not known that this festival ever fell into disuse, and 

 it is much to be hoped that the pretty old custom may long 

 survive, and keep its religious character, linking us, who take 

 part in it, with the untold generations of thankful people who 

 for so many centuries, have walked in procession to the wells 

 in the little hill village. 



We are indebted to the Rev. Reg. H. C. FitzHerbert, M.A., 

 for the loan of the typical photograph,* which is reproduced in 

 our illustration. He also furnishes us with the following early 

 reference to the custom. 



EXTRACT FROM A LETTER OF NICHOLAS HARDINGE, M.A., CLERK 

 TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, WRITTEN IN THE YEAR I 758. 



" Next day we decamped for Dovedale. The roads were 

 good, and the face of the whole country picturesque. At 

 Tissington, Fitzherbert's village, we saw the springs adorned 

 with garlands ; in one of those was a tablet in.scribed with 

 rhymes, composed by the schoolmaster, in honour of these 

 fountains, which, as Fitzherbert informs me, are annually con- 

 secrated upon Holy Thursday, the minister, with his parishioners, 

 praying and singing over them. In this town the old parochial 

 custom of acting Plays is also observed, though I never had 

 the good fortune of being present at any of these Interludes. 

 Have you more superstition interspersed with poetry in your 

 Italian villages?" — Poems, cic, by N. Hardinge, 1818. B.M., 

 79 ; d., 2. 



* By Mr. Rnlieit Bull, Stursion Road, Ashlmurne, 



