Eyam Museum

Eyam Museum stands in the Peak District village of Eyam, Derbyshire. It occupies a single-level building on Hawkhill Road, run entirely by volunteers. The museum opened in 1994 and later won a national award for small museums in 1998–99. A model of a Derbyshire lead mine was added in 2002. Its galleries trace Eyam’s past from prehistoric times to the 17th century. The museum focuses on the village’s experience during the 1665 bubonic plague. Eyam became known as the Plague Village after the disease arrived in a bundle of cloth from London. The rector, William Mompesson, organised isolation to protect nearby settlements. Nearly three-quarters of the village’s population died within fourteen months. Artefacts and documents tell how families coped with quarantine. Visitors find displays about everyday life before and after the plague. A lead-mining model shows how the local economy worked. Cases and photographs explain how Eyam’s sacrifice limited the outbreak elsewhere. The quiet surroundings of the Peak District add to the reflective atmosphere of the visit.