Rather English - Visit Mompesson's Well, Eyam

In the summer of 1665 a parcel of material arrived from London in the sleepy little Derbyshire village of Eyam for the village tailor. Within a week he was dead, and within two months thirty more villagers had died. Under the direction of the Reverend William Mompesson, the village took the decision to seal itself off from the outside world.

By November 1666 when the plague came to an end in Eyam, 260 out of 350 villagers had died, but the courageous decision of the villagers had helped to protect neighbouring communities, who had played their own part by leaving food and supplies at a well above the town, and collecting money left in the water in exchange. Today the well is known as Mompesson's Well, after the man whose decision played such a vital role in containing the plague.

For more, see http://www.flickr.com/photos/tiredoflondon/8213650916/sizes/h/in/photostream/

_{From November 2012 until January 2013, Tired of London, Tired of Life will briefly be posting as RatherEnglish.com and featuring interesting things to do in England}