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Eyam
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Plague Cottages Eyam

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Spooky Eyam museum

Location: Eyam
County: Derbyshire
Area Guides:
Eyam


Details: The village of Eyam (pronounced Eem) which sits snugly in relative isolation deep in the heart of the Peak District is surrounded by a rugged landscape of limestone hills and dales, and sheltered from the north by the dominating prominence of Eyam Edge; it is perhaps the most well-documented and most visited of all Derbyshire’s villages.

Tom Bates

ITS INHABITANTS are justifiably proud of their village and its place in history, for Eyam is known famously as the Plague Village - and thousands of visitors flock there every year from around the world, fascinated by the valiant story of sacrifice which the village has to tell.
The story begins in September 1665, when a contaminated parcel of cloth from London was delivered to the lodgings of travelling tailor George Viccars. Within three days Viccars was dead, and the bubonic plague, which was decimating London’s vast population, began to spread through the village.

Over half the population fled, including Squire Bradshaw and his family, but around 350 remained in the village, trusting to God and providence. In an attempt to stop the spread of the disease to other villages, the rector William Mompesson - aided by his Duckmanton-born Puritan colleague Thomas Stanley - called upon the remaining villagers to impose a self-regulated quarantine and the people agreed to what, for many of them, would become a death sentence.
Mompesson closed the church, and services were held in the open air at a place called Cucklet Delf, and he sent his two young children away... but his wife Katherine refused to leave, insisting that her place was by her husband’s side.

A stone boundary was set around the village and it was arranged, by courtesy of the Earl of Devonshire, that food and other necessities be left at various collecting points - such as the place that became known as Mompesson’s Well - and payment in coin was left either in vinegar or in running water.

During the next fourteen months the plague claimed the lives of 259 villagers - including the rector’s wife Katherine Mompesson - who became its 208th victim, dying in her husband’s arms on August 25, just a couple of months before the cold autumn of 1666 eventually extinguished the disease.
There was no time for funerals, and victims were buried either in the churchyard, in their gardens, or in nearby fields - as in the Riley Graves, where a Mrs.Hancock buried her husband and six children in the space of just eight days.

The legacy left by the plague is still evident throughout this close-knit community where many of the descendants of the plague survivors still reside. Commemorative plaques to the victims are displayed on the walls of the cottages where they lived – and died - over 335 years ago, and their heroic tale is related to visitors in vivid pictorial displays at both the Parish Church of St. Lawrence and at the Eyam Museum on Hawkhill Road at the western end of the village.

The most popular time of the year to visit Eyam is in the last week of August during Carnival Week, when the annual Sheep-Roast takes place, and the village is thronged by thousands of visitors.
Several wells are expertly dressed, and the entire village is festooned with colourful bunting, with events rounded off by the annual Plague Commemoration service, held on the last Sunday of August in Cucklet Delf.

But Eyam has far more to commend it than just an historic tale of self-sacrifice, as any walk around its pleasant meandering lanes and ancient buildings - many of them architectural gems - will show.

An island

The Domesday Book records it as Aiune – which, rather mysteriously, means ‘an island’ – and though it mentions no church, it is probable that the Saxons had a church here on the site of the present Parish Church of St. Lawrence, which was built originally in 1150.

The complete and unbroken eighth-century Saxon cross which stands close by the tomb of Katherine Mompesson in the churchyard is regarded as the finest example of its kind in the county. Unusually, the church has both Saxon and Norman fonts, some excellent Jacobean woodcarvings, including Mompesson’s chair, and a unique sundial, dated 1775, on the wall above the priest’s door.

It also has a large and atmospheric lime-surrounded graveyard, which contains the graves of many notables, including the Rev. Thomas Stanley - and Derbyshire and MCC cricketer Harry Bagshaw, whose headstone depicts a cricket bat in front of a set of broken stumps with flying bails; above it is the umpire’s raised finger, pointing firmly heavenward in dismissal – and signifying ‘Out!’

Lead mining and limestone quarrying have been the major source of local employment, the former being responsible for Eyam’s early prosperity, and reaching a peak in 1717 following the discovery of the rich vein at Hucklow Edge, whilst some limestone quarrying still continues in nearby Middleton Dale.
The lead-mining industry in the area was almost defunct by the late nineteenth century, but the Glebe Mine at Eyam continued working until the 1960s; its headgear is still a visible relic beside the primary school.

Eyam hall

Cotton, silk and shoe-making have in their turn provided a supplementary source of employment to mineral extraction for Eyam folk in succeeding centuries for the last three hundred years. These industries are well represented, both in the museum and on large information boards which stand on the green in the former market place near the village stocks, and opposite the seventeenth-century Eyam Hall. The stocks were erected by the Barmote Court for the punishment of minor offenders, a court which still sits each spring at the imposing Mechanics Institute of 1859, a little further east along Church Street
Eyam Hall is open to the public, and has eight working craft and gift shops, and a pleasant café inside its cobbled courtyard, whilst further west along the main street notable dwellings of similar vintage include Merrill House and the manor house, dated 1615, that was the birthplace of local poet Richard Furness (1791-1857).

Along with Canon Thomas Seward and his daughter Ann, who was known as the ‘Swan of Lichfield’ and who together occupied the seventeenth-century Old Rectory beside the church, Furness and curate Peter Cunningham, also a minor poet, formed an artists’ circle, a small community of writers who, in early Victorian times, earned Eyam the rather grandiose title of ‘The Athens of the Peak’.

In the twentieth century well-known local writer and historian Clarence Daniel wrote many books on Derbyshire including The Story of Eyam Plague, which included a guide to the village. He was also the founder and curator of the original museum which he and his wife ran from their home, Le Roc.

The splendid Miners Arms on Water Lane, just off the Square at the east end of the village, is the epitome of the country village pub, and Eyam’s only remaining hostelry – four others having closed and converted to private dwellings in recent years.

Modern Eyam is well-equipped for residents and visitors alike, with a large car park opposite the museum, complete with toilet and washroom facilities, and a variety of retail establishments including a post office, antique and curio shops, gift shops, cafés and local art and craft galleries. It is the archetypal Peakland village, and typifies all that is best about Derbyshire hill villages, with footpaths and walks in almost every direction, either through the village, redolent with age and the unique character of its well-preserved and heroic past – or into the equally unique and absorbing surrounding countryside which shelters beneath the benevolent wooded slopes of Eyam Edge.

Eyam update

Eyam (pronounced 'eem') is Derbyshire's famous Plague village whose inhabitants' heroic and self-imposed quarantine of 1665 arrested the spread of the disease to surrounding areas.

Today, however, Eyam prides itself on being one of the Peak District's best preserved villages with its unique story unfolding on any visit and close inspection of the many commemorative plaques; read more about the plague history of this village towards the end of this article...

Lynn Kelly investigates...

THE VILLAGE TODAY

Situated just of the busy A623 Chesterfield to Stockport road, close to the village of Stoney Middleton, this is a vibrant living village with many attractions for the visitor whether for the day or, preferably, using it as a base for exploring the Peak District.

St Lawrence's Church is a focal point, built on Saxon foundations and dating from the 13th and 14th centuries, it has many relics from the Plague, including the Parish Register recording the deaths and a small exhibition about the plague.

The church has two Norman columns and there is a Celtic Preaching Cross in the churchyard. The Cross was originally a wayside cross situated to the west of the village at Cross Low.

Eyam Hall, built in 1676 by the Wright family who still live there, is open to the public during the summer months. There is a thriving craft centre, open all year, featuring the usual gift shop and tearoom to interesting water sculptures, stringed musical instruments and paint your own ceramics.

Eyam Museum at the top of the village, opposite a public pay and display car park, first opened in 1994 and refurbished in 1997 is open April to October. It not only covers the history of the plague, but also covers the Saxon and Roman roots, the geological significance and industry of the village.

Eyam had one of the earliest public water supplies in the area dating from 1588 and some of the troughs can still be seen just below the Museum and are described at the site of the famous Sheep Roasting Jack on the main street.

Eyam also celebrates the unique Derbyshire custom of Well Dressing in late August.

For visitors staying in or near the village - it is well serviced by a good general store which has an off licence, video rental, newspapers and magazines as well as general food supplies. There is also a bakery/sandwich shop in the square that positively solicits customers ‘with no previous experience’. There is also a Butcher, Green Grocer/florist and Post Office.

There are a number of Tea Rooms and a Pub (The Miners Arms) which serves food and has accommodation. Given that this is reputed to be the most haunted building in Derbyshire, a stay here could prove to be very interesting.

The Story of The Plague

The Bubonic Plague (called ‘Black Death’) has killed more people than all the wars ever fought in the history of the world. It can be dated back to biblical Asia and Roman times. It swept across Europe from the 14th Century on, peaking in the 17th Century during The Great Plague of London.

The plague came to Eyam from London in a box of cloth infested by fleas carrying the disease. The cloth was ordered by George Viccars, an itinerant tailor, who was staying in a cottage near the Church, now called Plague cottage.

George Viccars died within four days of contracting the disease on 7 September 1665 and was the first recorded death. The last recorded death was Abraham Morton on 1st November 1666, leaving just 83 surviving villagers out of a population estimated at 350 at the outset.

It is a testament to the courage of the villagers, lead by the young Rector William Mompesson, aided by his predecessor Thomas Stanley, that they were persuaded to cut themselves off from the rest of the area.

Holding church services in the open, burying their own dead without funeral services to avoid spreading the infection. Mrs Elizabeth Hancock at Riley farm was the only survivor having buried her husband and six children in just eight days.

People in the surrounding area sent provisions to the villagers and these were left at the boundaries of the village, such as Mompesson’s well and the Boundary Stone beyond Lydgate Hill. Coins to pay for the provisions were put in vinegar holes scoured into the boundary stones.

The disease took a terrible toll on the village wiping out some families completely, in August 1666 alone, 78 people died including Catherine Mompesson, the young Rector’s wife. Her grave is very visible in the churchyard.

The Nursery Rhyme Ring a Roses was born out of the Black Death;

A ring, a ring o’roses
(The first sign of the plague was a rash on the chest)

A pocket full of posies
(Posies refer to fragrant flowers used to cover the stench of the disease)

A tishoo, a tishoo
(Sneezing - the final stage of the illness before..)

They all fall down
(..the inevitable)

The village recovered and returned to the traditional trade of Lead Mining, tending their smallholdings and gradually the population grew, they also know that through their actions they succeeded in stopping the spread of this killer into the rest of the surrounding area.

Mining continued up until 1965 at Glebe mine, this lead mine was worked for Fluorspar in the latter years. The mound, which is visible next to the Village School, houses the shaft to Glebe mine.

Facilities
Bank: No, nearest Bakewell
Shops: Yes
Pubs: Miner's Arms (Tel: 01433 630853)

To see accommodation listings for Eyam, please click here




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Another Peak District Tourist Guide listing created by Let's Stay Peak District - Tel: 01629 640 640.