Eyam is well set up for residents and visitors alike. A large car park stands opposite the museum, complete with toilet and washroom facilities. There are a variety of retail establishments including a post office, gift shops, cafés and art and craft galleries. It is perhaps the archetypal Peak District village. Eyam typifies all that is best about Derbyshire hill villages with pub, square and the impressive Eyam Hall.
Outdoors at Eyam
There are footpaths and bridleways in almost every direction giving access to the absorbing surrounding countryside. Several walks and mountain bike routes either start or pass through Eyam. The centre of the village is nicely paved and is a pleasant place to sit for a while before moving on. It is not a million miles away from the classic limestone climbing venue at Stoney Middleton.
Eyam in the Domesday Book
The Domesday Book records Eyam (locally pronounced ‘eem’) as Aiune. That’s a bit bizarre as the word means ‘an island’, perhaps a spooky premonition of what was to come six centuries later. No church is mentioned, however, it is likely that the Saxons had a church. The present Parish Church of St. Lawrence 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.
Local Hero?
So, who were the Mompessons then?
The local Vicar, Rev Mompesson, organised the quarantine of the entire village of Eyam in 1665. Unfortunately, the bubonic plague was thought to have been carried from London to Derbyshire by infected fleas in bales of cloth. The bales were delivered to a merchant in Eyam. When he died of the plague a few days later, loads of the locals fled the village. Some stayed. Katherine Mompesson refused to leave when her husband organised the quarantine. Sadly she died a month or so before the end of the grisly affair.
Food and other essentials were left at a well (now known as Mompesson’s well) in order to avoid spreading the plague. Payment was left in a container of vinegar so that the plague was not passed outside the village via the coins.
There was no time for funerals, which would have just made things worse – sounds familiar? Victims were buried either in the churchyard without ceremony, in their gardens, or in nearby fields. The Riley Graves above Eyam are where a Mrs.Hancock buried her husband and six children in the space of just eight days.
Mompesson’s Well
You can walk, cycle or drive up to the well by taking the road out of the village, past the main car park (public toilets). The nearby limestone crag of Cucklett Delf was host to church services during the time of the plague. Holding public meetings in the open air was one way to try to minimise the spread of the disease which killed almost 300 villagers during the quarantine. The plague was eventually finished off by a particularly cold autumn in 1666.
Eyam Church
The church dates back to the 13th century and has many points of interest ranging from a plague victims book, Mompesson’s chair, wall paintings and Jacobean wood carvings. Oh, and a sundial and the aforementioned Saxon Cross! It also has both a Saxon and Norman font.
Industries of Eyam
Lead mining and limestone quarrying have been the major source of local employment. Lead mining was at its peak in 1717 following
the discovery of the rich vein at Hucklow Edge. Some limestone and mineral quarrying still continues nearby. The lead mining industry in the area was almost defunct by the late nineteenth century. However, the Glebe Mine continued working until the 1960s; its headgear is still a visible relic beside the primary school.
Cotton, silk and shoe-making have in their turn provided a supplementary source of employment for Eyam folk in succeeding centuries. 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. The stocks were erected by the Barmote Court for the punishment of minor offenders.
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