Eyam, Derbyshire

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Notables | What to see in and Around Eyam |Nearby |Resources.

Notables
Dedicated page at : Notables of Eyam
Eyam was known as “The Athens of The Peak” - A Place of Poets & Painters

• Richard Furniss, poet.
  
• Peter Cunningham, poet.
  
• William Wood, author.
  
• John Nightbroder, a highly celebrated literary character and a liberal benefactor. He founded the house of Carmellites, or White Friars, at Doncaster AD 1350.
  
• Miss Anna Seward, poetess born in 1747. Her father, Thomas Seward was Rector of Eyam, prebendary of Salisbury, and canon residentiary of Lichfield and in 1750 he published an edition of the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher, he was the author of an ingenious tract on the conformity of Paganism and Popery, and published a few poems.

• The Staffords were by far the most conspicuous and wealthy family and Humphrey, the last male heir of this family, died at Eyam in about 1580. He had four daughters. Catherine married Rowland Morewood, Gertrude married Rowland Eyre of Hassop (an ancestor of the Earl Newburgh), Ann married Francis Bradshaw, of Bradshaw, near Chapel-en-le-Frith, and the other daughter probably never married and was known as Madame Stafford. Francis Bradshaw had the family mansion of the Staffords where he and his descendants resided until the plague broke out in Eyam and he and his family fled to Brampton, in Yorkshire, and never returned.
Other families & people of note:
• The Colyns were a family of distinction at Eyam in the reign of Henry VI.
• French was the name of an important family in the village.
• The Brays were a family of some note at Eyam.
• The Gibels of Eyam were a family of distinction.
• Michael Barber, was Parish Clerk 59 years and a profound astrologer.
• Cornelius Brushfield, of the Hanging-flat was perhaps the greatest recluse.
• John Gregory, of Riley, Eyam, characterized the primitive inhabitants of the world.
• John Dooley, loved of music, had astonishing powers of memory and a keen caustic satire and is remembered for his witty and pithy remarks.
• Philip Sheldon.
• Thomas Birds was the well known antiquary of Eyam and had perhaps the greatest and best collection of fossils and other curiosities.
• Ralph Wain, an Eyam weaver discovered the process of producing patterns on both sides of silk.

What to See in and Around Eyam
• The Stocks
• Eyam Hall - said to be an exact copy of the old Hall of the Bradshaw’s’, had a new front in 1676.
• The Delph - contains a natural rock archway, Pulpit Rock, and it was that Mompesson held services during the time of the plague and it goes by the name of “Cucklet Church”.
• Riley Graves - Within this enclosure will be found the tombstones of the Hancock family seven of whom were buried within eight days (3rd to 10th August 1666). “Riley” was not the name of a family, but of a plot of land, and it is variously written as Righley, Ryleye, or Rylegleyes, in old deeds of the 14th and 15th centuries and it may be a corruption of the French for royal land.
• “Ligget” Graves – a small burying place, in the Lydgate contains the tombs of George Darby and his daughter Mary (4th July & 4th September 1666).
• Mompesson's Well.
• Bradshaw Hall - or the Old Hall.
• The Rectory.
• The Bull Ring.
• Cotton weaving – an former industry.
• Silk weaving – an former industry.
• Shoe making – an former industry.
• Mechanic’s Institute – the venue for the lead mining Barmote court.
• Delta 32 gene mutation and its discovery.

Nearby
• Leam Hall - between 1857 and 1904 Leam Hall was home to the Athrope family.
• Stoke Hall - Listed in the Domesday Book, the first known occupant was Gerbert de Stoke, in 1204.
• Druid circle on Eyam Moor.

Resources
Books which bear directly or indirectly upon Eyam:
Victoria County Histories. Derbyshire.
Notes on the Churches of Derbyshire by Dr. Cox; 4 vols. (Vol. II treats of Eyam, with the other Churches in the neighbourhood).
The Reliquary (especially the original series).
The Journal of the Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural History Society (annual volumes).
Feudal Derbyshire by Pym Yeatman.
Peak Scenery by Ebenezer Rhodes.
Highways and Byways in Derbyshire by JB Firth.
Descriptive Catalogue of Derbyshire Charters by IH Jeayes.
The Parish Registers of England by Dr JC Cox; pp 142-176.
Vignettes of Derbyshire.
History and Antiquities of Eyam by William Wood.
Tales and Traditions of the Peak by William Wood.
The Dagger and the Cross by Joseph Hatton.
The Brave Men of Eyam by Rev EN Hoare.
The Herons by Helen Shipton.
The Desolation of Eyam by William and Mary Howitt.
Nichols' Literary Illustrations; vol VI.
Anecdotes of Distinguished Persons by W Seward; (vol. 2), London, Cadell, 1804. Letters of Anne Seward; 6 vols.
The Poetical Works of Anna Seward edited by Walter Scott (3 vols).
A Swan and her Friends by EV Lucas; London, Methuen, 1907.
Literature of the Eighteenth Century by M Oliphant.
The Lamp of St Helen and other Poems by SL O'Ferrall.
Books on the Plague:
Discourse on Pestilential Contagious Diseases by R Meade; London, 1720. (9th Edition 1744 pages 149-151).
Epidemics of the Middle Ages. 1843 by JFC Hecker.
Archaeologia vol vi 79-86, vol xxxvii 1-22.
Pepys' Diary.
Old St Paul’s by Harrison Ainsworth.
London by Walter Besant.
Journal of the Plague Year by D Defoe.
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by E Gibbon; Ch xliii, (end) Articles sub voce, in Encyclopaedia Britannica, Harmsworth's Encyclopaedia, Chambers' Encyclopaedia.
Decameron by Boccaccio. Introduction.