TISSINGTON is a small parish, in the hundred of Wirksworth. In the village, which is situate about 4 miles N. from Ashbourn, are five springs of the purest water, in connexion with which, a curious ancient custom, termed the 'Floralia', or 'well-dressing', prevails among the villagers, annually upon Ascension day, when these fountains are decorated with the choicest flowers, as offerings to the Naiads, which is thus executed - Blocks of wood are obtained (in) the required form, which are coated over with wet clay, into which the flowers are stuck, in various devices and inscriptions, so as completely to cover the bed and present a beautiful mass of flowers.

It is worthy or remark that in this simple and rural parish there is not a single tavern or public house. 'Tissington Hall', is the ancient seat of the Fitzherberts, who have resided here ever since the end of the fifteenth century. The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, and stands on an eminence overlooking the village, is partly in the Norman style of architecture at and partly in that of a later date: the living is perpetual curacy, in the patronage of Sir Henry Fitzherbert, Bart.

The parish contained, in 1831, 459 inhabitants: being fewer by 37 than were returned in 1821, and only four more than it contained in 1801.

BENTLEY is a small agricultural parish, in the same hundred as Tissington, about a mile and a half, south, from that village. Part of the old Manor house is still standing, and is occupied as a farm house. The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, is a small structure with a low tower: the living is a discharged rectory, in the patronage of the Dean of Lincoln. The parish contained, at the last census, 308 inhabitants.

THORPE is likewise a small parish, in the same hundred as the two before-mentioned villages, about three miles and a half N.W. from Ashbourn. A little northward of the village, at the entrance of the romantic Dovedale, is a remarkable conical hill, called ‘Thorpe Cloud’, steeply ascending three hundred feet above the bed of the river Dove, which flows at its base. The church, which is dedicated to St. Leonard, is a neat edifice, situate on the brow of a hill, and so surrounded by trees as to be highly picturesque: the living is a discharged rectory, in the patronage of the Dean of Lincoln. Population, by the census taken in 1821, 203, and by the returns in 1831, the number was 189.

[Ed: there was apparently no POST, or POST OFFICE service]

Description(s) from Pigot and Co's Commercial Directory for Derbyshire, 1835.
Transcribed by Rosemary Lockie in May 1996.