TISSINGTON, a parish in the hundred of WIRKSWORTH, county of DERBY, 3¾ 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; viz. 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.