Youlgrave Welldressing

Every June sees the pretty Derbyshire village of Youlgrave celebrate its well dressing tradition. The festival is usually held during the week of 24th June, which is also the feast of St John the Baptist and old Midsummers Day. Well dressing is a beautiful and  popular custom, particularly in Derbyshire and the Peak District, in which springs and wells are decorated with panels worked in flower petals and other natural materials to form a design. Religious scenes are common but not exclusively so. The custom seems to date back to the eighteenth century at least, though it has become much more widespread in modern times.Many villages take part and the season lasts from early May into August so there are plenty of opportunities to visit though the season for each village is short (usually a week) because of the nature of the materials used. Youlgrave has its own water supply which never dries up and there are usually 5 large well dressings in the village – visitors are welcome to help in the making of the dressings on the days leading up to the Saturday (follow link below to their own website for details).

Helpful Hints

The date is a slightly moveable feast depending how the days of the week fall in relation to 24th – but the latest the blessing ever occurs is the 25th when 24th falls on a Friday, and the dressings remain on display afterwards.

In 2024 the Blessing should take place on Saturday 22nd June and the dressings should remain on display until about 27th.

For a schedule of all the well dressings of the season including Youlgrave click here : http://www.welldressing.com/

and for Youlgrave’s own site click here :http://www.youlgravewelldressers.co.uk

Photo by Oxymoron.