Eyam

I love Eyam, in the Derbyshire Peak District. It's rich in history and has a fine 8th Century Celtic Cross in the grounds of the parish church.
It's the story of the plague, in 1665, which fascinates me. A tailor living in the village received some cloth from London, which apparently contained plague carrying fleas. The tailor fell ill and soon died, as did some of the the people he was lodging with. Soon many of their neighbours, who lived in what is now known as "plague cottages":
and others in the village, succumbed to the plague. One woman, Mrs Hancock, buried her husband and 6 children over a period of 7 days, in what is known as the Riley Graves:
The rector of Eyam, William Mompesson asked the villagers to shut themselves off to avoid contaminating the whole area. Most did, and the plague killed 260 villagers over an 14 month period leaving only a few survivors. However places like nearby Sheffield were not affected.

It's interesting to compare what happened in Eyam with the current pandemic of swine flu. At the beginning of this flu outbreak people were asked not to go to Mexico unless their journey was "really necessary". Our motorways are full of business people making "essential journeys". The first known case of swine flu emerged near to a pig farm that raises almost 1 million animals a year, with reports of clouds of flies coming from the manure lagoons. It raises serious questions about factory farming.

It will be interesting to see how we cope this autumn. Years ago our bakers would have sacks of flour stored in their shops. Today most of our food comes from big manufacturers, where accountants have ensured everything is "just in time". I hope they can cope if their drivers go down with flu...
Coming back to Eyam, a remembrance service is still held every Plague Sunday (the last Sunday in August). It's also Eyam Well Dressing (in Eyam it's 29th August - 5th September 2009) and on Saturday 5th September 2009 you can see an old Eyam custom, involving a sheep being roasted on a revolving roasting jack (pictured above).