Well Dressing at Aswell Spring

While I have been in Brighton there was a local well dressing ceremony at the place where Aswell Spring used to be. The spring is now culverted and flows into the River Lud.
The Aswell Spring, which was measured in the 1870's by TW Wallis the woodcarver and engineer, flowed then at a rate of 460 gallons per minute!
The springs clearly had a religious role to play in the town. There are numerous references in the 16th and 17th centuries to relatively substantial payments being made for the dressing and cleaning of Aswell Spring in preparation for its blessing and religious festivals.
Well dressing sometimes known as well flowering was a process of decorating using flower petals and other natural materials. In 1559 Mertyn Chapman was paid a shilling to dress Aswell Spring for Christmas. Payments occur in the Churchwardens' accounts and Corporation records throughout the 16th and 17th centuries for the annual dressing of the Spring for Holy Thursday.
The reason for this well dressing today is that a small park called The Gatherums (or locally Springside) finished the regeneration of the area through to Aswell Street and there was a ceremony to cheer on the dedicated workers who had seen this regeneration through and a ceremony to celebrate the event.