Tissington

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Tissington
Derbyshire
Tissington.jpg
Tissington Pond
Location
Grid reference: SK176522
Location: 53°4’1"N, 1°44’19"W
Data
Population: 159  (2011)
Post town: Ashbourne
Postcode: DE6
Dialling code: 01335
Local Government
Council: Derbyshire Dales
Parliamentary
constituency:
Derbyshire Dales

Tissington is a village in Derbyshire. 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.

The village gives its name to the Tissington Trail, a 13-mile walk and cycle path which passes nearby. The Limestone Way, another long-distance path and bridleway, passes through the village itself.

The village takes its name from the Old English for "Tidsige's farm/settlement"[1]

History

Tissington is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Tizinctun. It had been given to Henry de Ferrers 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 villeins, and 8 bordars having 4 ploughs, and 1 mill of 3 shillings (value); and 30 acres of meadow. Underwood one mile in length and 4 furlongs in breadth. In the time of King Edward it was worth £4, now 40 shillings"

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.[2]

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.[3]

As of March 2021, and since 1989, the owner of the village was Sir Richard FitzHerbert, 9th Baronet who resides at Tissington Hall. In an interview, he said that 45 of the properties were rented out and that tenants farmed the 2,000 acres around the Hall which operates some corporate events and weddings.[4]

About the village

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[5] by Francis FitzHerbert, replacing an earlier moated manor house, it is a Grade II* listed building.[6] The owner was awarded the Bledisloe Gold Medal "for estate management by the Royal Agricultural Society" in 2006. Bledisloe Gold Medal for estate management by the Royal Agricultural Society in 2006.[7]

The parish church of St Mary opposite the hall has a Norman tower and font.[8]

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 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.[9]

A dressed well in 2007

Outside links

Commons-logo.svg
("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Tissington)

References

  1. [1]: English Place Names Society
  2. Buckley, D.H. (1968). A Short History of Tissington and its Parish Church. J.F. Hill. 
  3. "Civil War redoubt 150m east of Tissington Hall". English Heritage. 15 February 1999. http://magic.defra.gov.uk/Metadata_for_magic/rsm/29939.pdf. Retrieved 16 June 2016. 
  4. "Inside Britain’s privately owned villages". https://www.countrylife.co.uk/property/discover-britains-privately-owned-villages-224582. 
  5. Bygone Derbyshire site
  6. National Heritage List 1335283: Tissington Hall (Grade II* listing)
  7. "Inside Britain’s privately owned villages". https://www.countrylife.co.uk/property/discover-britains-privately-owned-villages-224582. 
  8. National Heritage List 1109271: Church of St Mary (Grade II* listing)
  9. "Tissington Well Dressings". Discover Derbyshire and the Peak District. http://www.derbyshire-peakdistrict.co.uk/tissingtonwelldressings.htm. Retrieved 16 June 2016.