Tissington

Tissington is a village in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England. The appropriate civil parish is called Tissington and Lea Hall. The population of this parish at the 2011 census was 159.[1] It is part of the estate of Tissington Hall, owned by the FitzHerbert family since 1465. It is a popular tourist attraction, particularly during its well dressing week. It also gives its name to the Tissington Trail, a 13-mile (21 km) walk and cycle path which passes nearby. The Limestone Way, another long-distance path and bridleway, passes through the village itself.

Tissington

Tissington Pond
Tissington
Location within Derbyshire
Population159 (2011)
OS grid referenceSK176523
Civil parish
  • Tissington and Lea Hall
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townASHBOURNE
Postcode districtDE6
Dialling code01335
PoliceDerbyshire
FireDerbyshire
AmbulanceEast Midlands
UK Parliament

History

Tissington (Old English "Tidsige's farm/settlement"[2]) is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Tizinctun,[3]:1413 having been given to Henry de Ferrers[4] by the King:

"In Tizinctun Ulchel, Edric, Ganel, Uluiet, Wictric, Leuric, Godwin had 4 carucates of land for geld. Land for 4 ploughs. Now in the demesne there (are) 3 ploughs: and 12 villanes, and 8 bordars having 4 ploughs, and 1 mill of 3 shillings (value); and 30 acres (120,000 m2) of meadow. Underwood 1-mile (1.6 km) in length and 4 furlongs in breadth. In the time of King Edward it was worth £4, now 40 shillings"[3]:745

During the reign of Henry I the estate passed to the Savage family. After the death of the last male heir, William le Savage in 1259 it was split between the families of the joint heiresses, the Meynells and Edensors. The Meynell's part of the estate was acquired in marriage by Nicholas FitzHerbert in the 1460s. During the reign of Elizabeth I, Francis, the great-grandson of Nicholas, purchased the remainder from the heirs of Edensors. From then the village and estate has been wholly in the ownership of the FitzHerbert family.[5]

During the Civil War a redoubt or siegework was constructed on the hill north of the church. The buried and earthwork remains are protected as a Scheduled Monument. Tissington Hall was garrisoned for the king by its owner, Colonel Fitzherbert in December 1643.[6]

Notable buildings
The Hall
The Church
Typical cottages

In the centre of the village is Tissington Hall, the seat of the FitzHerberts. A Jacobean building built in 1609[7] by Francis FitzHerbert, replacing an earlier moated manor house, it is a Grade II* listed building.[8]

The parish church of St Mary opposite the hall has a Norman tower and font.[9]

The majority of the other buildings in the village are built in the local vernacular style, of which around 70% are listed buildings.

Well dressings

An estimated 50,000[10] people visit the village to view its well dressings each year. Six wells (Children's Well, Coffin Well, Hall Well, Hands Well, Town Well and Yew Tree Well) are decorated during the week of Ascension Sunday with pictures formed by pressing flower petals and other organic materials into a clay substrate. The pictures are usually on a Biblical theme reflecting current events or anniversaries. This tradition is often cited to date back at least to 1348, following the village’s escape from the Black Death, which the villagers attributed to the purity of the water in its wells.[11]

A dressed well in 2007

Literary connections

Richard Graves wrote some of his novel The Spiritual Quixote whilst staying in Tissington.[12]

References
  1. "Civil parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  2. English Place Names Society Database at the University of Nottingham
  3. Domesday Book: A Complete Translation. London: Penguin. 2003. ISBN 0-14-143994-7.
  4. Henry was given a large number of manors throughout England, but particularly in Derbyshire.
  5. Buckley, D.H. (1968). A Short History of Tissington and its Parish Church. J.F. Hill.
  6. "Civil War redoubt 150m east of Tissington Hall" (PDF). English Heritage. 15 February 1999. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  7. Bygone Derbyshire site
  8. Historic England. "Tissington Hall  (Grade II*) (1335283)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  9. Historic England. "Church of St Mary  (Grade II*) (1109271)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  10. "Well-Dressings". Tissington Hall. 2008. Archived from the original on 2 March 2009.
  11. "Tissington Well Dressings". Discover Derbyshire and the Peak District. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  12. IGEW - Wilson, John Marius (1870) Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales
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