Newborough Well Dressing

The ancient art of Well Dressing is believed to have originated in pagan times when it was a ritual performed to give thanks for the gift of water and may possibly have been introduced to Britain by the Romans. The Church banned it but the tradition refused to die and has survived to the present day in and around Derbyshire. Wooden boards are filled with soft, wet clay on which a design is picked out and then coloured using petals and other natural materials such as leaves, cones and bark. It represents hours of back breaking work and once complete will only last about a week before the clay dries and the flowers fade.