Well-flowering at Buxton

Following Tissington’s example, several Derbyshire towns took up dressing their wells. At Buxton it began about 1840, when the Duke of Devonshire brought water to the town at his own cost and the people decorated the taps with flowers in gratitude. It became the busiest day of the year, with crowds from Manchester, bands in the streets and St Anne’s Well arched over with flowers set in plaster. Buxton still dresses its wells every summer.