Eyam - History & views

Eyam. 9 mile walk with 3.5 mile option.  OS map OL24.

http://www.eyam-museum.org.uk/visit-us

"Welcome to the beautiful, historic village of Eyam  (pronounced 'eem'), in the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire, England which became famous after the Black Death of 1665 and 1666."

History & views.  The walk will not be at a fast pace and there will be opportunities to take photos.  As a guide, half an hour in Eyam taking photos of the houses, signs and churchyard and then 5 hours to complete the walk.  As the walk is taking place on a Sunday, we will not be able to go inside the church due to a service taking place.

http://www.beautifulbritain.co.uk/htm/outandabout/eyam.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyam

https://www.eyamvillage.org.uk/

https://www.eyamchurch.org/about-us/village-history/eyam-plague/

Eyam is noted for an outbreak of bubonic plague which occurred there in 1665 in which the villagers chose to isolate themselves rather than let the infection spread.

THE WALK

Starting from Eyam Museum we will walk along Church Street past some of the houses where victims of the plague lived and through the churchyard stopping to look at the Celtic Cross, Sundial and some of the gravestones.

From the church we continue uphill through fields and woods to Sir William Hill trig point.  As we leave the woods we will have good views back down into the valley and across to the quarry on the opposite side of the valley to Eyam.  From the trig point we will have views North-West towards the Hope Valley and Mam Tor and South-East to the Edges above Froggat, Curbar and Baslow.

From the trig point we head downhill past Mompesson's Well then through some woods to reach The Square in Eyam.  At this point anyone doing the shorter walk can follow the road back to Eyam Museum.

For those doing the longer walk, we continue along Lydgate, where we will see a couple of gravestones of plague victims, to fields that lead us past the Boundary Stone on our way to Stoney Middleton.  This stone was where residents of Eyam left money during the plague in exchange for goods.

Once in Stoney Middleton we will pass the former Toll Booth (now a chip shop) and a former mill.  At The Moon pub we have a steep uphill section on the road which then becomes a more gradual ascent as we head across fields and then descend towards Calver.

Once we reach Coombs Dale we have an easy walk along the track which has a small stream running alongside it and a gradual ascent to Black Harry Lane (named after a highwayman).  We have a short but steep climb up the lane before descending past Darlton Quarry to the Stoney Middleton road A623.  As we walk downhill we have a view across the valley to Eyam.

Our return to Eyam is through the nature reserve and Cucklett Delf.  Church services were held outdoors at Cucklett Delf.