TIDESWELL AND TIDESLOW. 6 I 



in 1678); and also by Charles Cotton (1630-1687) in The 

 Wonders of the Peake (1681). The account in the latter is 

 copied in Cox's Magna Britannia (1720), j., 430; also in Macky's 

 Journey Through England (1724), ij., 192, but in each instance 

 the quotation commences, "Near Tide's Wall," words not to 

 be found in the original, where the first line runs, " North-east 

 from hence (Buxton) three Peakish miles at least." 



In maps of the seventeenth century it is termed " Weeding," 

 or " Weding Well " ; and in the one by Morden, in Camden's 

 Britannia (1695), it is lettered "Wedding Well." This name 

 disappears in the next century, and in the works of Pilkington 

 (1789) and of Rhodes (1824) it is designated "Ebbing and 

 Flowing Well." 



Pilkington is the most trustworthy writer on the subject, 

 having visited both places, as recorded in his View of Derby- 

 shire (1789). In this he reports the well at Barmoor Clough 

 to be wholly dependent on the rainfall, and as ceasing to 

 flow for three weeks or a month in dry weather. At its best 

 it formed " a stream nearly large enough to turn the overshot 

 wheel of a corn mill." He adds: "There was formerly a 

 spring of this kind at Tideswell likewise ; but it has now ceased 

 to flow, and the place where the well is situated is scarcely 

 known. ... I was informed that the well, which is now 

 closed up, might be easily restored to its ancient state" 

 (ij- 250-3). 



The account of Tideswell in A. Jewitt's History of Buxton 

 (181 1) contains this paragraph: "The well, of which so much 

 has been said by old authors, and which is supposed to have 

 given name to the town, is now nearly choked up with weeds 

 and rubbish" (188). He also describes the one at Barmoor 

 Clough, and "felt hurt to find so great a curiosity in so 

 uncleanly and neglected a state" (170). A few years later 

 Rhodes (1824) thus alludes to that at Tideswell: "The spot 

 where the 'well once was is still pointed out to the traveller 

 who enquires for it, but it is now choked up, and its ebbings 

 and Sowings have long since terminated" (74). During the 



