Description:The well in Endon is probably most well known for the annual event which celebrates it every year.
The custom of well dressing in Endon has always fallen on the 29th of May (also Oak Apple Day) in common with many other Staffordshire villages. It began in 1845 after Mr. Thomas Heaton a local landowner made it easier for the villagers to collect their water by installing what sounds like a pipe to connect to the nearby trough. Traditionally the celebration has a religious element, with a church service starting off the proceedings. A procession from the village headed by a Well or May Queen, a young girl from the village then makes its way to the well and the vicar blesses the well. In Victorian times celebrations followed with dancing and refreshments. The well used to be dressed with oak leaves, boughs and flowers. In more recent times the wells have continued to be dressed with natural decorations, mainly flowers, which are pressed into wet plastic local clay boards attched to wooden boards.
The worldwide tradition of well dressing goes back many centuries, being a feature of the ancient pagan calendar. Hundreds of years ago many wells were revered as being holy. They were thought to be the sign of the earthmother because of the pure water which flowed from them. Well dressing originally took place in high summer because of the abundance of flowers at this time.