Customs at Collections

Ascension Day

On Ascension Eve they plant the ‘Penny Hedge’ at 9am on the foreshore at Whitby, to withstand ‘three tides without removing by the Force of the Water’ as a penance for a crime committed in 1159 – but too complicated to relate here. In Tissington they put up their Well Dressings ready for blessing on the morning of Ascension Day.

Ascension Day, 40 days after Easter, is traditionally the day for Beating the Bounds, usually of a church parish, by perambulating the boundary marks to make sure they had not been moved or tampered with, and literally beating them with wands to confirm that the inspection had been carried out. Now, with accurate maps and plans it is no longer necessary, though some parishes keep it going for old times’ sake, most famously in Oxford. There are other boundary perambulations at other times of the year, notably the Sheriff’s Ride in Lichfield, the Border Ridings in Scotland, the triennial Laugharne Common Walk and the septennial Boundary Riding (actually walking) around Richmond in North Yorkshire. Every third year choirboys of the chapel, Yeoman Warders and other officials of the Tower of London Beat the Bounds of the Tower Liberty.

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Beating the Bounds of the Tower Liberty around The Tower of London, Ascension Day 1987

Setting off to Beat the Bounds of the Tower ‘Liberty’ at the Tower of London on the evening of Ascension Day 1987

The Chief Yeoman Warder gives his instructions before Beating the Bounds of the Tower Liberty, Tower of London, late 1980s

Meeting with beaters from the neighbouring parish of All Hallows on Tower Hill during Beating the Bounds of the Tower of London, late 1980s

Passing through the Barbican whilst Beating the Bounds of the parish of St Botolph, Aldersgate, London, 1986

Beating the Bounds in London (from Chambers’ Book of Days, published 1862)

Hymn singing while Beating the Bounds of the parish of St Mary-the-Virgin, a perambulation which goes through little-known parts of colleges and shops as well as streets in Oxford, 1984

A boundary mark of the parish of St Mary-the-Virgin in Oxford, beaten with wands and confirmed with chalk on Ascension Day 1984

Well Dressing at Bisley, near Stroud, Gloucestershire, England, on Ascension Day 1984 (One of few well dressings outside Derbyshire - and substantially different)

Procession to the Well Dressing at Bisley, Gloucestershire, England, late 1990s (Unlike the Derbyshire tradition, at Bisley garlands are carried in procession from the church to the elaborate Victorian wells, on Ascension Day, and put on display)

The seven wells which form a half circle below All Saints Church are decorated and blessed on Ascension Day at Bisley, Gloucestershire, 1992 (A rare well dressing outside Derbyshire - but in a quite different style)

Erecting the Well Dressings at Town Well, Tissington, Derbyshire, England, in the evening before Ascension Day 1990

Blessing Yew Tree Well, Tissington, Derbyshire, England, 1990

Well Dressing in Derbyshire, England: Yew Tree Well in Tissington, 1966

Hall Well, Tissington, Derbyshire, as dressed for Ascension Day - and still the same 150 years later (from Chambers’ Book of Days, published 1862)

Well Dressing in Tissington, Derbyshire, 1966 (Lifting the completed Yew Tree Well ‘picture board’ into position on Ascension Eve)

Blessing Hall Well, Tissington Well Dressing, Derbyshire, England, 2010 (Tissington is famously ‘traditional’ in approach so the advanced design can only mean that the daughter of Tissington Hall is at art college!)

Bishop and priests blessing Hands Well during well dressing at Tissington, Derbyshire, 1977

Mr Hutton making the Penny Hedge of ‘ten stakes, ten stout-stowers and ten yedders’, ready to withstand three tides on the shore at Whitby, North Yorkshire, 1966

The Penny Hedge of ‘ten stakes, ten stout-stowers and ten yedders’, ready to withstand three tides on the shore at Whitby, North Yorkshire, 1966