We drove to the picturesque village of Eyam this morning and began our walking tour of the medieval village at the
Eyam Museum. This was a small but well curated museum detailing the events leading to, and the progress of, the outbreak of the plague in Eyam. Of course, the plague affected many places, but Eyam stands out due to the selfless decision made to quarantine themselves from the rest of the world around them in an attempt to stop the plague spreading. The people of the town were also excellent at record keeping which made for interesting reading at the museum - it was possible to trace just how the plague entered, and spread through, the village.
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| Sophia - look! A plague doctor mask! |
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| This was a really clear infographic displaying by household the men and women lost to the plague (in red), those who survived (in green), those who died but not from the plague (blue), and those whose fate was unclear (yellow). Although the mortality rate seems awful, it is strongly suspected that there were just as many households who were not affected at all; they do not show up on the records. |
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| Love the logo for the museum |
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| On our walk, we came across a spit roast for an annual sheep roasting event! |
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| Ground zero for plague deaths in the village. Lower class people would strip the clothes from those who died in London and ship them to tailors in rural areas. Those tailors would then use the old clothes as a template for what was now fashionable in London. In this case, "those who died in London" probably died of the plague, and had clothes infested with rats. The first symptoms in the tailor's live-in apprentice came within 2 days of a new package arriving. |
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| Only one citizen who died of plague was buried within the church grounds. All others were buried by family near their own homes. In one case, a woman buried her husband and all six children in the space in 8 days. |
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| Plague Window in the church |
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| Celtic cross in church graveyard |
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| The gates of the Eyam primary school, with the nursery rhyme "Ring o' Rosy" along the gate - cute and creepy |
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| Rhubarb and custard icecream |
Afterward we drove to Leicester and visited the King Richard III excavation site and museum.
https://kriii.com/about-the-centre/
This was super. The remains of Richard III were discovered on the site of the Greyfriars Friary Church, which was a council carpark up til the excavation - I thought it was funny that he got stuck in a carpark and it took him forever to get out!
Turns out he had scoliosis. Well, that, and other posthumous injuries to his skull were discovered upon exhuming his corpse. There was a section of the museum devoted to his family tree - all the twists and turns included, a section about the battle that saw his life ended, another exhibition about how he has been portrayed - evil villain or just misunderstood (he so totally had those two young boys murdered in the Tower of London), and (probably my favourite part) a section devoted to the archaeology, discovery and exhumation of Richard III. The boys were fascinated to read that a descendent of Richard's was found for DNA testing in confirming the bones were those of the King.
Also, I kept secretly giggling as the words "Lord Farquaad" ran through my head hehe!
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| Villain or just misunderstood? |
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| Part of the discovery exhibition. A model of the skeleton is on display, with a video demonstrating the injuries. A separate model demonstrated the extent of his scoliosis - pretty damned advanced! |
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| The boys and Ricky III |
Before heading to our stop for the night, we had Japanese for dinner at
Bonzai Sushi - absolutely delicious.
Tomorrow we head to Oxford for a walking tour!
