Eyam, the Riley Graves and Mompesson's Well

The walk starts from the car park opposite the museum in Eyam. It goes down through the village past Eyam Hall, the church and the plague cottages, where the outbreak of 1665 began, then out by the Lydgate and a field path to the Boundary Stone, where coins were left in vinegar in exchange for food. It drops to Stoney Middleton, comes back up the old track of Mill Lane and walks out along Riley Lane to the Riley Graves, where Elizabeth Hancock buried her husband and six children. Returning to the village, it climbs to Mompesson's Well on the edge of the moor, and comes down by lanes and a field path to the car park.

It is 7.6 km with 244 m of ascent; allow about 2½ hours. The grade is Easy.

More than half the walk is on village streets and quiet lanes, some without a pavement: watch for traffic. The field paths can be muddy. In fourteen months the plague killed 260 of about 800 villagers, who had shut themselves off to stop it spreading. The Riley Graves belong to the National Trust.

The Derbyshire Dales car park charges and has toilets; there is a free car park beside it. There is no station nearby.

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.