Eyam: The Plague Village, 1665–66

The Eyam plague story starts with a parcel. In 1665 a flea-infested bundle of cloth arrived from London for Alexander Hadfield, the village tailor. His assistant George Viccars noticed that the bundle was damp and opened it up. Before long he was dead, and more people in the household began dying soon after. From that one delivery the disease spread through a Derbyshire village. The pin marks Eyam itself, because the sources do not say where Hadfield's workshop stood.

Location precision: The sources name the tailor but not his workshop, so the pin marks the village of Eyam.

As the disease spread, the rector Mompesson and Thomas Stanley took the courageous decision to isolate the village. Outsiders could not enter, so supplies were left for villagers and payment was disinfected. Mompesson filled this well with vinegar and used it to sterilize coins that entered and exited the village. The well is a Grade II listed monument, and you can see it today in Eyam.

Visitor guidance: A short walk from the village centre.

During the plague the rector moved church services outdoors, to the natural amphitheatre of Cucklett Delph. Villagers could separate themselves, which reduced the risk of infection. The cavern served as Mompesson's pulpit, with local family groups standing in the valley below. The cave is now called Cucklet Church, and an annual plague commemoration service is still held there.

Visitor guidance: Plague Sunday, the annual commemoration, is held in Cucklett Delph on the last Sunday in August.

Survival seemed random. Elizabeth Hancock stayed uninfected despite burying six children and her husband in eight days. The graves are known as the Riley graves after the farm where the family lived. They lie in an isolated enclosure, now under the guardianship of the National Trust, and are among the plague sites visitors walk to from Eyam today. During the plague, families were to bury their own dead.

Visitor guidance: An isolated enclosure outside the village, cared for by the National Trust.

Catherine Mompesson stayed by her husband the rector rather than moving away with the rest of her family, and died in the very last days of the plague. Her tabletop grave is in the churchyard of St Lawrence's Church, where a wreath is laid on it every Plague Sunday. The plague ran its course over 14 months, and the church holds a record of 273 individuals who were victims of it.

Visitor guidance: The churchyard of St Lawrence's Church.