Village Well Blessing and Parade
- Occuring
- for 2 hours
- Venue
- Holy Trinity Parish Church, Ashford in the Water
- Address Church Street Ashford-in-the-Water, DE45 1QG, United Kingdom
After a short service in church and at the Old Preaching Cross (see "Well Blessing Service"), the village's wells are blessed during a procession around the village. The well dressings remain displayed for one week, concurrently with the church’s Flower Festival.
This custom is almost exclusive to Derbyshire. In its simplest form, well dressing can be described as the art of decorating springs and wells with pictures made from flower petals, berries, and leaves, and other natural materials such as dried herbs, pulses, seeds, stones and wool.
It is thought that this ephemeral art form originated in pagan times as a form of thanking the water gods for clean water.
Village Well Blessing and Parade
4 Jun 2023, 3 p.m. for 2 hours
Village Well Blessing and Parade
4 Jun 2023, 3 p.m. for 2 hours