Tideswell

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Tideswell
The George Hotel, Tideswell.
Tideswell shown within Derbyshire
OS grid reference	SK154748
District	Derbyshire Dales
Shire county	Derbyshire
Region	East Midlands
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BUXTON
Postcode district	SK17
Dialling code	01298
Police	Derbyshire
Fire	Derbyshire
Ambulance	East Midlands
European Parliament	East Midlands
UK Parliament	High Peak
List of places: UK • England • Derbyshire

Coordinates: 53°16′N 1°46′W / 53.27, -1.77

Tideswell is a village in the Derbyshire Peak District, England (location map). It lies six miles east of Buxton, off the B6049, in a wide dry valley on a limestone plateau, at an altitude of over 1,000 ft above sea level. The population was 1717 in 1991, making it the second largest habitation within the National Park, after Bakewell.^[1]

There is some debate as to how the village got its name. Some say it originates from a Saxon chieftain named Tidi, others that the name comes from a "tiding well" situated in the north of the village.

In the Middle Ages, Tideswell was a market town known for lead mining.The Tideswell lead miners were renowned for their strength and were much prized by the military authorities. George III is reported to have remarked when a group of miners were paraded before him in London-

" I don't know what effect these men will have on the enemy, but Good God they Frighten me".

Tideswell is now best-known for its fourteenth century parish church, the Church of St John the Baptist, known as the "Cathedral of the Peak".

The town has a week-long festival near the summer solstice known as the Wakes, culminating in "Big Saturday" which includes a torchlight procession through the streets, led by a brass band playing a unique tune called the Tideswell Processional[1] , and townsfolk dancing a specific weaving dance.

Tideswell is locally called "Tidza" (or "Tidsa"), and the folk known as "Sawyeds" due to a traditional story that when a farmer's cow got its head stuck in a gate, the farmer got it free by sawing off its head. Today this story is re-enacted raucously and colourfully each Wakes by a local mummers group called the Tidza Guisers.

[edit] Notable people

Christopher Buxton Martyr, studied here at Tideswll Grammar school under Nicholos Garlick^[2]
Rev. J. M. J. Fletcher (Vicar of Tideswell) - historian^[3]
Blessed Nicholas Garlick Catholic priest and martyr was a schoolmaster here in the sixteenth century^[2]
William Newton, poet and philanthropist was buried here.^[4]
Samuel Slack Notable bass singer born 1757 of local fame, reputedly sang before King George III ^[5].
Judy Leden, stunt flyer and three times world hang-gliding champion.