Eyam Walk

Jnr Jnr has been wanting to take me around Eyam since she had studied it in class.  In case you've not heard of it, it's a Derbyshire village that was caught up in the plague in 1665.  A flea on a delivery of cloth to the tailor bit a guy as he hung it up, the plague killed him in a couple of days and it spread quickly.  In considering the bigger picture, the locals decided to impose a quarantine and face it out, so aiming to keep neighbouring villages safe.  It ended up killing loads of them, entire families devastated (there are various family grave sites).  It worked though, and after a year it disappeared and the village opened itself up again.

It's a fascinating bit of history, and although the little museum was shut (typical, we went in the four weeks it's closed!) she showed me a lot of the graves, told me a lot of the history and I took her to a couple of places sh'e not seen on her school trip. 

One was the boundary stone (see extra photo of the holes), and we were accompanied there by a couple of my ex-pupils and their mum who we happened to bump into along the way.  Money was placed in here by the villagers for payment for goods delivered there by the neighbouring villagers of Stoney Middleton.  The holes were filled with vinegar and the coins put in, and they thought this helped prevent the spread of the plague.  People still leave coins in there as you can see.

The other extra shot is of the only grave from a plague victim to be in the churchyard.  It is of Catherine Mompessom, wife of the pastor who led the quarantine.  It is of interest to Jnr Jnr as she told me they spelt her named wrong when they made it, and you can see the replacement 'O' in her surname.

I only chose the main picture as it looks like she's standing next to an alien from a low-budget 1970's Doctor Who episode.  They look like they're enjoying the view.