Traveling to the Peaks District National Park, we had plans to go to a climbing crag called Horseshoe Quarry. But, on our way, the battery and starter motor in the Thunder Puffin unexpectedly decided to crap out on us. Fortunately, we were able to limp into a mechanic’s shop just outside the picturesque village of Eyam. While the Puffin was being wrenched on by one of the Peak District’s finest, we took the opportunity to take a long stroll through the countryside.
Eyam, with a population of close to 1000 people, is located in the Derbyshire Dales, within the boundaries of the Peak District National Park. While surrounded by beautiful forests and steep, rocky canyons, the village’s main claim to fame is how it dealt with a bubonic plague outbreak in the 1600’s.
The tragic tale began when a local tailor received a flea infested bundle of cloth from London in 1665. The fleas carried bubonic plague, which was rampant in London at that time. Within two weeks, residents of the small village of Eyam started dying. Among other precautions, the villagers decided to voluntarily quarantine themselves from neighboring villages. That decision successfully prevented the spread of the disease, and potentially saved thousands of lives. Unfortunately, effects of the plague on the residents of Eyam were devastating. Although definitive records do not exist regarding the population of Eyam before the plague began (or how many of its residents succumbed to the disease) one estimate states that only 83 people survived out of a total population of 350 residents. However, the local parish Church of St. Lawrence does have a record of 273 people who died from the plague in a 14 month period.
We’ve found that the unplanned aspects of travel often deliver the most rewarding experiences. Although we wouldn’t rate this particular bit of unplanned travel as happily rewarding, it may well have been one of the most interesting, though sobering, experiences we’ve ever had in our travels.
