Eyam

Eyam is a small village in Derbyshire, England. The village is best known for being the "plague village" that chose to isolate itself when the plague was discovered there in August 1665, rather than let the infection spread. The village was founded and named by Anglo-Saxons, although lead had been mined in the area by the Romans.

Eyam can boast various plague related places of interest such as the 'boundary stone', a stone in which money, usually soaked in vinegar, which was believed to kill the infection, was placed in exchange for food and medicine, and the Riley graves as mentioned above. The only pub to be found in the village is the 'Miner's Arms'. Opposite the church is the rather grand looking 'Mechanics' Institute' that is used as a village hall meeting rooms. The Mechanics' Institute was established in Eyam in 1824 according to "White's History, Gazetteer & Directory of the County of Derby, for 1857", with a Library paid for by subscription, which then contained 766 volumes. There were 30 members recorded in 1857, paying the equivalent of 1 p per week. Up the main street is the Jacobean house Eyam Hall built just after the plague. The green opposite has an ancient set of village stocks reputedly used to punish the locals for minor crimes. There is a picturesque Youth Hostel in the village.