Eyam: A Tragic but Heroic History.

Very (very) ignorantly, I assumed that, because the Peak District national park is a protected area of land, people don’t actually live within it. Much to my surprise, the Peak District is actually made up of many towns and villages. One village with a very interesting history is Eyam. Upon hearing about this fascinating little village, my friends and I made it our first port of call when arriving in the Peak District.

Eyam, or the plague village as it is commonly known, has gone down in history for the heroic behaviour of its villagers when the Black Death hit the village in 1665. The plague was spread by infected fleas and swept across entire populations, guaranteeing a death sentence to almost everyone infected. The plague made its way to Eyam on a flea-infested bundle of cloth that came from London.

In their desperation, the villagers turned to the village authorities – Reverend William Mompesson, and the Puritan Minister Thomas Stanley. The two men came to the conclusion that the village needed to completely isolate itself from the outside world to prevent the plague spreading. Not only did this mean that outsiders couldn’t enter, but it also meant those living in the village, who had avoided the plague so far, couldn’t escape.

If you plan on visiting the area, I’d advise a visit to Eyam museum (at the small cost of £2.50). The museum has further details on how villagers received food from outside the village without coming into contact with the healthy outsiders, as well as different techniques the villagers used to prevent or treat the plague, like the one on the poster below.

Remedies for the Plague:
If there do a blotch appear; take a pigeon and pluck the feathers off her tail, very bare, and set her tail to the sore, and she will draw out the venom till she die; then take another and set her likewise, continuing so till all the venom be drawn out, which you shall see by the pigeons, for they will die with the venom as long as there is any in; also a chicken or hen is very good.

After milking the museum of every last drop of information about the village, we decided to explore the small area we now felt we knew well. We stumbled across Eyam church, a pretty old church, with a pretty extensive graveyard. On our way from the museum to the church, we passed many of the houses where victims of the plague lived. While most of the houses look pretty ordinary, one cottage, which a small front garden brought some colourful conversation to our otherwise bleak mornings (having only spoken about the plague since we set foot in Eyam). The current owner of the cottage has filled his small front garden with ornaments of all shapes as sizes and created the masterpiece pictured below.

When you next visit the picturesque Peaks for your weekend walk, have a look around Eyam and remember some of the history our country does so well to preserve.