Museum Review No.1

Eyam Museum, Derbyshire 20th June 2007

Report by Valerie Dear and Sue Titmuss

We visited Eyam Museum as part of a group outing to Eyam. (Also known as the Plague Village) The museum is situated right opposite the coach and car park, which also has very clean toilets. There are a few steps/ramp up to the door, and a stair lift from the ground to the first floor. The ground floor has a good little gift shop. If you book in advance, as we did, you can watch a very well made 15 minute video which gives the story of the plague coming to Eyam and how the villagers prevented it spreading all over Derbyshire by their heroic actions. The film is suitable for children and adults.

The museum takes you chronologically through the history of the village, from pre-history of life in the area, Roman and Saxon roots of settlement, the nature, history and movement of Bubonic plague, its arrival in Eyam, some of the "quack" remedies of the time, and the new industries which nurtured the village to the present day, together with the geological significance of the area. There are beautifully clear illustrated storyboards, and the displays include large print explanations and narrations, with clear illustrations and paintings, artefacts and documents of the time, models, room settings, graphs and charts, statistics, lists of the dead, grouped in families, and much more.