A Visit to Eyam
A day out in the beautiful village of Eyam is the perfect choice for visitors to this part of the Peak District. Set in a stunning location, surrounded by wonderful Derbyshire countryside, the village has a fascinating and inspiring history.
It’s perhaps best known for being the site of an outbreak of the bubonic plague in the 1600s, when a local tailor took delivery of a bundle of cloth from London. The cloth turned out to be full of fleas which, tragically, came from rats that were infected with the disease, and within only a few days the plague had begun to take hold in this small, quiet Derbyshire village.
When the disease was reaching its height, the village rector, Rev William Mompesson, persuaded the villagers to quarantine themselves from the rest of the world to prevent the spread of the plague to neighbouring areas. Nobody left or entered the area for the next 14 months, during which time at least 270 of the 350 villagers died.
Thanks to their huge sacrifice the plague was contained within the village, and the bravery of the villagers meant that hundreds, if not thousands, of other lives were saved in nearby villages.
Reminders and monuments to this period in the villages history can be seen everywhere. There’s also a small but interesting Museum in the village dedicated to the tale.
Today it is a pretty, characterful village, with a range of small shops and cafés, a beautiful Jacobean Hall that’s open to the public, a wonderful pub, a Museum and a small Visitor Information Centre.
More about Eyam
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How do I get to Eyam?
The village is located just off the A623 near Stoney Middleton. There is a free public car park on the edge of the village on Hawkhill Road, opposite the Museum, postcode S32 5QP.
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The 65 bus service runs to and from Sheffield and Buxton via Eyam. The 66 bus service runs to and from Chesterfield via Eyam. There are also a couple of buses a day between Bakewell and Eyam.
