A wreath of red roses is laid on the grave of Catherine Mompesson prior to Eyam's annual Plague Commemoration Service.
A wreath of red roses is laid on the grave of Catherine Mompesson (vicar's wife at the time the plague was ravishing the village) prior to Eyam's annual Plague Commemoration Service. The disease came to the village in the 1660s from cloth infected with fleas from London. The village subsequently sealed themselves off to stop the plague spreading to surrounding communities and many died, largely at the instigation of the vicar William Mompesson. He urged his wife to flee the village but she refused and succumbed to the illness. The villagers' sacrifice is marked annually on the last Sunday in August with a costumed procession to Cucklet Delf where an outdoor church was established during the time of the quarantine as it was thought germs would spread easier indoors in the church. Roses were thought to ward off miasma which it was thought caused the disease, hence "Ring a ring o roses" in the nursery rhyme.
Size: 2112px × 2816px
Location: Eyam, Derbyshire, UK
Photo credit: © Richard Bradley / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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