Tradition of well-dressing

The charming custom of well-dressing is seen almost exclusively in the villages of the Derbyshire Peak District, an area particularly rich in wells and springs. This originally pagan practice of adorning wells with flowers and greenery was absorbed into the clearly Church - which also appreciated the value of its water supplies.

The wells were re-dedicated to some holy personage and, as in the present-day ceremonies, any decoration was performed as an expression of thanks-giving to God rather than to appease any water spirit.


Young and old join in the preparation of the well-dressings,which usually have a religious theme a and are fashioned on boards of damp clay. Coffee beans or other natural items are pressed into the clay to form the outlines of the picture, and these are then filled with overlapping flower petals and other plant material.

Traditionally the first wells of the year to be dressed, at Ascensiontide, are the five at Tissington. This custom is thought to date from 1615, when the wells kept flowing despite a severe drought. The Tissington dressing typically have an inner arch surrounding the picture, and an outer arch with letters and patterns set into a cream or pale green fluorspar background.

Well-dressing at Tideswell is comparatively recent and did not begin until after WWII. The village is now noted for the detail and accuracy of its architectural screens, which depict a different cathedral or church every June.

In 1829, when piped water was first laid to the village, the custom of 'tap-dressing' began. The five public taps are still dressed annually each June, around Midsummer Day. Unusually, the clay of the Youlgreave dressing is built up into three-dimensional shapes and colour is applied. Wirksworth, which first received a piped water supply in 1827, observes a similar tradition, although the public tap have long gone.

In Scotland, some wells - such as Craigie Well, north of Munlochy Bay, and St Mary's Well, by the battlefield of Culloden - are decorated by passers-by with strips of cloth, or 'clooties', representing problems, prayers or wishes. It is traditional to visit the wells before dawn on the first Sunday in May.