UK: Peak District

The Peak District covers 1,438km in the heart of England (that's about the size of Greater London). The Peak District reaches into five counties: Derbyshire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Yorkshire and Greater Manchester. For experienced walkers, the long distance 431km (268 miles) Pennine Way National Trail follows the Pennine chain along the rugged backbone of England from Edale crossing Kinder Scout, the highest point in the Peak District at 636 metres (2,087ft). The hike crosses the 3 highest points in the Peak District National Park: Kinder Scout (633m), Bleaklow (633m) and The Black Hill (582m).

🙂 Fantastic Hiking

🙁 Eyam – ravaged by the Plague

VERY Iteresting history:

In 1665, the last and greatest wave of plague hit London. Over the next year, it wiped out more than 100,000 people – anywhere from a quarter to two-fifths of the population. From London, the plague spread to nearby surrounding areas and into East Anglia, but it remained primarily a disaster of England’s southeast. That is, until it reached Eyam (pronounced eem), a village in the central North of England, about 13 miles Southwest of the Yorkshire city of Sheffield. 260 Eyam villagers died over the 14 months of the plague out of a total population of 800. 76 families were affected by the plague; many such as the Thorpe family were wiped out completely.

A bundle of plague

In late August 1665, village tailor, Alexander Hadfield, took delivery of a bundle of fabrics. Accounts vary: some say the package contained cloth samples, others that it held damp, flea-infested, used clothes. (It was common practice for the clothes of fashionable Londoners to be deconstructed by country tailors who reused the expensive fabrics for new garments.)

Whatever the truth of the matter, a week later the tailor’s assistant George Viccars died. Very soon after that, the tailor and the rest of his household died as well. That was the start of a plague that ravaged the village for the next 14 months.

But it went no further than Eyam.

The quarantine of Eyam

The new vicar, William Mompesson had an idea but, as the new – and unpopular – man in town, he was unsure he could persuade the villagers. He called upon his predecessor, Thomas Stanley, and, together they addressed a village meeting, asking the villagers to voluntarily quarantine themselves within the town. Most agreed not to leave the town until the disease had run its course.

The villagers created a cordon sanitaire of large flat stones – an exclusion zone – beyond the borders of the village. Meat and grain brought from neighbouring villages was left by the stones and, in exchange, the villagers left coins in bowls of vinegar in hollows of the stones. They believed the vinegar cleansed the coins of the contagion. Visitors today can still find the stones around what was then the edge of Eyam. Sometimes people leave coins to honor the courageous villagers. Food and supplies were also left at Monpessan’s Well, a landmark you can find along the village trail.

Meanwhile, within the village, untold suffering continued for more than a year. Historic markers beside lovely stone cottages all over the town indicate where entire families were wiped out by the disease. People had to bury their own dead. In August 1666, Elizabeth Hancock lost six of her children and her husband, all within eight days. People from the neighboring village of Stoney Middleton watched from a nearby hill, unable to help as, alone, she dragged the members of her family beyond the edge of her farm to bury them.

The aftermath

The quarantine of the plague village of Eyam lasted 14 months. By the time the outbreak was over and the last death recorded, in November 1666, more than 75 percent of the  population of Eyam had perished. Of the original 344 villagers, only 90 survived and more than 70 families had been completely wiped out. Historic markers, located all around Eyam, indicate the plague cottages and who died in them. The stories are almost impossible to imagine.

We stayed at a lovely stone hotel called the Rambler Inn and planned our walks at breakfast.

Really specatular walking.

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