Eyam - the plague village

Eyam, Derbyshire

Lori and I took an a hour trip northwest of Derby to Eyam, known as the plague village.  The plague was brought to the village in a flea-infested bundle of cloth from London delivered to tailor in 1665.

After the initial deaths, the townspeople introduced a number of precautions to slow the spread of the illness from May 1666. These included the arrangement that families were to bury their own dead and the relocation of church services from the parish church of St. Lawrence to outdoors to allow villagers to separate themselves, reducing the risk of infection. Perhaps the best-known decision was to quarantine the entire village to prevent further spread of the disease. The plague lasted for 14 months and killed at least 260 villagers with only 83 villagers surviving out of a population of 350.

The cottages where the plague started

Stain glass in the church commemorating the plague.

A footpath leads out of Eyam to the boundary stone. This stone was the place where residents of Eyam left money during the plague, in exchange for goods. The stone has six holes that were filled with vinegar to disinfect the money.

The grave site of the Hancock family... all 6 children and the husband died within a week from the plague.  Only Mary Hancock survived to bury her family.