Eyam (St. Helen)

EYAM (St. Helen), a parish, in the union of Bakewell, hundred of High Peak, N. division of the county of Derby; containing, with the townships of Woodland-Eyam and Foolow, 1426 inhabitants, of whom 951 are in the township of Eyam, 1 mile (N. W. by W.) from Stony-Middleton. This parish comprises by measurement 4398 acres, of which about 320 are arable, 708 meadow, 3270 pasture and moor, and about 100 wood: the soil is various, partly on limestone and partly on freestone; much of the pasture and meadow is very good, but the moor and higher land is poor. In Sept. and Oct. 1665, the infection having been conveyed hither in a package from London, four-fifths of the inhabitants were carried off by the plague. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £13. 15. 5., and in the gift of the Dukes of Devonshire and Buckingham, and the Earl of Thanet, with a net income of £226: the tithes have been commuted for £80, and the glebe consists of 56 acres, with a house. The church contains about 560 sittings. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans; and a school is endowed with about £12 per annum. Ann Seward, poetess, and writer of a life of Dr. Darwin, was a native of Eyam, of which her father was rector.