St Lawrence's cemetery - Eyam, Derbyshire - Worldwide Cemeteries on Waymarking.com

Churchyard cemetery of St Lawrence's church, Eyam.

"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."

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"The church lies within a substantial churchyard on the north side of Church Street which is the main village thoroughfare and it is immediately adjacent to the cottages within which the plague started.

The churchyard, which has been successively enlarged, extends for some distance freely to the north, beyond which there is open countryside rising to the ridge which bounds Eyam Moor.

In the front churchyard there is a Saxon gritstone preaching cross which it is believed had in earlier times been moved from a nearby location outside the village, possibly ‘in the hills’ to the west. The cross, which is of high significance and is now a Grade 1 designated monument, lay for a period in the corner of the churchyard until set up in its present position through the efforts of prison reformer John Howard (1726-90) (Routh 1937, 30). It was recorded in its current position in 1815 by J C Cox (1875 vol 3) who related that ‘the Sexton remembers the missing piece (the lower arm of the cross) being thrown around the churchyard as a thing of no value until it was broken up by some of the inhabitants and used for domestic purposes’.

There is also a war memorial and several significant tombs and monuments e.g. Catherine Mompesson, (wife of Rev Mompesson); Harry Bagshaw (the Cricketer’s grave); Richard Furness (The Poet of Eyam); William Wood, (local historian); Lord Brian Morris (politician); two war graves and many war commemorations.

The setting for the church includes a well-established graveyard extending behind the church and beyond with a considerable number of mature trees. There are a number of Yew Trees between the church and Church Street that are of some age. The churchyard boundaries are generally formed out of dry limestone walls which are very typical of this part of Derbyshire. A number of trees have tree preservation orders (T.P.Os) and the churchyard, especially to the north is rich in fauna and flora with many wildflowers including primroses."

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City, Town, or Parish / State / Country: Eyam / Derbyshire / England Approximate number of graves: 1000 Cemetery Status: Active Cemetery Website: Not listed

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