Well-Dressing
From early May to mid-September
the villages of the Peak District dress themselves in floral finery
as one by one they have their annual well-dressing. Of uncertain
early history and a distinctive local form of folk-art that nearly
died out in the 1950s, well-dressing, in this age of leisure,
is flourishing. Originally occurring in the White Peak area they
have been augmented by ones in places such as Derby city, Chesterfield
and Bolsover; in the Dark Peak - Penistone and Tintwistle. The
nearest to Macclesfield being surprisingly at Sutton Lane Ends
two miles out of town and at Whaley Bridge and Buxworth.
Chelmorton village, five
or six miles SE of Buxton, is our first port-of-call on our journey
of discovery.
A curious village, the obvious
through road, shown top, abruptly terminates just above the church,
on the steepening climb up the escarpment of Chelmorton Low into
this unmetalled track.
It is easy to see that we
are in the midst of the 'White Peak' region with the local limestone,
in either dressed or 'field' form, having been used to construct
the buildings and boundary walls .
A historical theme has been
chosen for this year's panel sited on the road junction just below
the church. Themes for the panels are most often religious, reflecting
the involvement by the churches over centuries in ceremonies of
blessing the villages' sources of clean water recognised as being
sacrosanct from pollution even before water-borne infection was
acknowledged scientifically.
This detail shows something
of how the effects are created. Here the border utilises stone
chippings with the letters picked out in dark brown beans/seeds.
The signature of Elizabeth I, Gloriana, is created with braided
red knitting wool yarn additionally tacked into place. Petals
and other vegetation I am unable to identify, other than the ivy
leaves, make up the majority of the area with beans/seeds again
for the dark part of the dress.
Sitting coyly behind the
trees at Townend on the outskirts of the village this farm/manor
house of uncertain vintage but interesting aspect.
Youlgreave village, some
five miles or so S of Bakewell is still in limestone country,
as the walling off of the old Coldwell here shows.
It is interesting that the
Coldwell well-dressing panel depicts one of the prehistoric stone
circles on nearby Harthill Moor. The pagan builders of such monuments
also worshipped at wells and other water sources and some believe
well-dressing continues that tradition although latterly heavily
overlaid with Christian ceremony.
Youlgreave cottages with
dressed stone lintels in fieldstone walls.
The explanatory notice by
each of the Youlgreave well-dressings explains that a Russian
icon was the inspiration for this panel and that St George was
also the patron saint of Russia, Boy Scouts and farmers!
With such a demand for flower
petals for the panels it is not surprising that village gardens
are bursting with flowers. What is surprising, maybe, is that
there are any flowers left there! :o) The St George, though, uses
Cupressus Leylandii fronds for the green areas and as well as
flower petals elsewhere uses Sweetcorn for the handle and crosspiece
of the sword.
At first glance the Holywell
panel is wholly secular but the adjacent notice explains that
it is an eye-catching modern way of depicting the events at Belshazzar's
Feast when the 'moving finger writ' the Hebrew words at the top
of the panel which were expounded upon by the prophet Daniel.
In the centre of the village
the fourth well-dressing is aptly built against the circular stone
cistern ...
... associated with the
first provision of piped water in the village, courtesy of the
Friendly (sic) Society of Women! (Not a 'Monstrous Regiment' here!
:o) Joking apart, the primary involvement of women as worshippers
and particularly as worshipped in pagan and early Christian well
and water ceremonies is incontrovertible.
A suitably aqueous image
here with the watery shimmer created by alternate runs of pale
petals and strips of raffia which was also used for the tree-trunks.
The view from the village
square towards the Parish Church ...
... which sheltered the
final Youlgreave panel against its wall ...
... as well as picnicking
schoolgirls.
The singular outcropping
of limestone, known as Peter's Stone, at the head of Cressbrookdale
near to Litton village ...
... where outside the "National
School and Village Library, Litton AD 1869", as the inscription
over window reads, is our next well-dressing ...
... by the children of Litton
from the children's own designs on the theme of 'All things Bright
and Beautiful'.
In the grounds of the Litton
Methodist Church a well-dressing depicting rural crafts of the
village. To create a well-dressing panel a shallow wooden tray
receives a thick coating of puddled clay. Into the soft clay surface
various vegetable and mineral materials are pressed. The clay
and its dressing of petals etc is retained when the panel is vertical
by nails or other protuberances that hold it from slumping and
from falling off in chunks as it dries and cracks. Fortunately
the craft of well-dressing-maker is absent from the panel here,
as is part of the display itself! But it was near the end of its
week-long period of display. A nice touch, though, is the creation
of an 'instant well' with a garden water feature with fountain
and a similar one was placed at the Children's Well.
By concentrating on the
well-dressings I have not been able to do justice to any of the
places we visited. I will certainly be back taking more pictures
and refreshing the inner man with an excellent lunch and a good
pint at the Red Lion, Litton.
The well-dressings may have
arisen from the pagan worship of female water deities but trees
were worshipped as well as water. In the car-park at Tideswell
Dale just outside Litton is this carved figure made from the stump
of a gale-damaged tree which seems to me to signify the life force
of nature exemplified by the deciduous tree which the ancients
revered.
Ah well! Back to the 21st
Century!
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