St. Lawrence's Churchyard in Eyam, Derbyshire

About

Get directions Eyam, Derbyshire, England

Coordinates: 53.28428, -1.67492
Cemetery ID:

Members have Contributed

About these numbers These percentages indicate the number of Find a Grave memorials that have a grave photo or GPS coordinates. We don't know the total number of burials in a cemetery, so we cannot calculate a percentage of those with memorials, photos or GPS coordinates.

Photos

4 open photo requests.

St Lawrence's church stands in the centre of the 'Plague Village' of Eyam, and boasts a Saxon churchyard cross, a Norman font, and a series of 18th-century wall paintings. The church is medieval with elements from the 13th and 15th centuries. It was partially rebuilt in 1619 and restored in 1868–70 by George Edmund Street. A modern stained-glass window commemorates the 260 victims of the ‘black death' who died in Eyam 1665 - 66.

William Mompesson, the Rector at that time, supported by Thomas Stanley, the former incumbent, organized a strict quarantine (a cordon sanitaire) to prevent the spread of the disease beyond the village boundary. Services were held in the open air. The churchyard was closed to burials from July 1666 and families were asked to bury their dead in their own gardens in unconsecrated ground.