TISSINGTON, a parish in the hundred of WIRKSWORTH,
county of DERBY, 3 miles (N.) from Ashbourn,
containing 496 inhabitants. The living is a
perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry of Derby, and
diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, endowed with £200
royal bounty, and in the patronage of Sir H. Fitzherbert,
Bart. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is
partly Norman and partly of later date: it stands on
an eminence overlooking the village, where are five
springs of the purest water, in connexion with which a
curious ancient custom, termed the " Floralia," prevails
among the villagers, annually on Holy Thursday; via.,
that of decorating these fountains with the choicest
flowers, as offerings to the Naiads; this they execute
with admirable ingenuity, and then repair to the church,
where the ritual of the day is performed, and a sermon
preached; the springs are then visited by the
minister, choristers, and people; the Psalms, Epistle,
and Gospel are read, and a hymn sung, and the remainder
of the day is spent in. rural festivity. Catherine
Port, in 1722, bequeathed £5 a year, and Frances Fitzherbert,
in 1735, gave an annuity of £4, for teaching
poor children.