Eyam - Plague Village

The story of the plague in Eyam and the way the villagers selflessly quarantined themselves to prevent it from spreading to outlying districts is well known. The Plague ended in October 1666. In 14 months it had claimed 260 lives out of a total of around 800 in the village and these cottages were where the first deaths occured. They each carry a plaque giving details of deaths and dates, and stand as a memorial to those years.

Eyam Hall
Eyam Hall is situated in the famous 'Plague Village' in the Peak District. In 1666 the village of Eyam was struck down by bubonic plague carried from London to Derbyshire by infected fleas in bales of cloth.

The gabled manor house is built of local gritstone and incorporates part of an earlier, smaller house.
The present form of the house dates from 1671 and the rain-water heads, dated 1676, mark the completion of the rebuilding work carried out by Thomas Wright.
He was the younger son of a well-established local family who purchased the estate for his son John and his wife, an heiress. The property is still in the hands of the Wright family and the present owner has recently carried out a careful restoration of the building.

Rileys Graves
The Riley graves, close to Riley House Farm and approximately 1/2 mile from the village, house the bodies of the husband and six children of farmer Elizabeth Hancock. All died within a week of each other. Because of the high risk of infecting her neighbours she had the traumatic task of burying them all herself. Even more tragic is that the infection probably came to her family when she helped bury another villager's body.

Eyam Church
The church in the centre of the village has many relics of the Plague, including Mompesson's chair, gravestones of Plague victims and the Parish Register recording the deaths. Within the church there is a small exhibition about the Plague. The church has two Norman columns, and may be built on Saxon foundations, but dates mostly from the 13th and 14th centuries. In the churchyard there is a magnificent Saxon cross dating probably from the 9th century and carved with a mixture of pagan and Christian symbols. There is also a fine sundial on the wall of the church.