FOOLOW AND EYAM WALK
THE WALK
Foolow and Eyam Walk is an easy walk, mostly on level ground with good open views. It includes a visit to Eyam, tragically made famous because of the terrible hardships endured by its people during the bubonic plague.
Soon after departing from Foolow, a shallow dip is encountered; this is tiny Linen Dale. After leaving it behind, several more stiles are passed through with outstanding views of Eyam Edge to the north.
Any tourist visiting the beautiful village of Eyam for the first time, not knowing of its tragic history, rapidly becomes aware by reading the wall plaques on the buildings. The inhabitants of this village once endured an epic struggle. In a period of only just over 12 months, from September 1665, 260 people died from the plague out of a population of about 800, many of whom moved away when the plague first began.
The Lydgate Graves at the far end of the walk provide a reminder of the horrific death toll inflicted by the plague. A visit to the museum, which you pass within a few yards, is well worth a short diversion.
The return journey takes you along Tideswell Lane. Shortly after passing through Linen Dale again, the road back into Foolow is reached.
LOOK OUT FOR
Route Point 4 – Eyam Hall was built in 1671, on land bought from a survivor of the plague, by Thomas Wright for his newly married son. It has remained in the Wright family ever since. It was leased to the National Trust for a few years. This fine old house is open periodically to the public for tours; please check the website for details. The outbuildings around the attractive courtyard have been turned into craft shops, together with a café and gift shop. On the green opposite are the village stocks, where at one time you might have found a lead miner imprisoned by the Barmote Court for a mining offence.
Point 5 – On the route out of Eyam, heading towards the Boundary Stone and beyond that, Stoney Middleton, are the Lydgate Graves. George Darby and his daughter, Mary, are buried surrounded by a walled enclosure. During the plague, families had to bury their own dead, and it was George’s wife who had to bury her husband and daughter. The graves and the surrounding wall are Grade II listed.
Point 6 – Eyam Museum tells the dramatic story of the outbreak of the bubonic plague that so decimated the inhabitants of the village in 1665/6. Local geology, archaeology, and social and industrial development are all covered in this excellent little museum. Between the museum and Main Street are a series of stone troughs that were set up using natural springs, and water was piped through the village. Eyam set up one of the first public water supply systems of any village in the country.
Point 7 – Small fields and limestone walls surround the walk along Tideswell Lane. Field patterns within the White Peak are very distinctive due to the widespread occurrence of drystone walls, constructed from the local limestone. Small, narrow fields, indicating the piecemeal enclosure of earlier open field strips, are a characteristic feature. Many of the lead miners in the Foolow area supplemented their incomes by farming and required a small field for a cow to graze.
WALK DETAILS
Length: 5 miles.
Start: The centre of Foolow, close to the mere. Parking in the village is very limited. At busy times, the walk should start in Eyam, using the car park by the museum, turning right up the main street to follow the walk instructions from Point 6.
Location: Off the A623 between Stoney Middleton and Wardlow Mires.
Terrain: An easy route to follow across mainly level open countryside. There are a good number of stiles on the first half of the walk, some squeezers.
Refreshments: The Bull’s Head is a delightful, traditional country pub with stone-flagged floors and a log fire in winter. – There are several cafes and a public house in Eyam. The Barrel Inn in the nearby village of Bretton is reputedly the highest pub in Derbyshire, with spectacular views from its front lawns.
THE ROUTE
1. Leave the centre of the village and walk past the Bull’s Head and continue along the road towards Eyam for about 100 yards. Before crossing a stile on the right into a field. Angle to the left to cross a stile in front of a derelict farm building. You now have your back to Foolow, and the road you just walked down runs roughly parallel with your route.
2. From this point, continue over several fields with the wall close by on the right, before descending into Linen Dale by a short flight of steps. Ascend the other side of this very shallow dale, where the path goes slightly to the left along an obvious route.
3. The path soon straightens out and maintains the same direction through a series of fields, aiming to the right of a group of trees you can see in the distance. After passing the trees, the path drops gently with the wall close by on the right at first, and then continues through a further three fields, along an easy-to-follow route.
4. Walk down a short, enclosed path between cottages, cross an access road, and continue along a path across a narrow field. Cross a further access road and walk down a slightly longer enclosed path. Continue along a signed route between houses and down a road, to arrive at a ‘T’ junction, opposite Eyam Hall Craft Centre and turn right down Church Street to pass Eyam Hall.
5. Continue down Church Street past St Lawrence’s Church, keeping to the left at a fork in the road to reach the Market Square. Here you angle to the right towards Eyam Tearooms and go up the narrow road to the right of the tearooms to reach the Lydgate Graves, which are on your right a short distance up Lydgate.
6. Re-trace your steps back up Church Street and continue past Eyam Hall. Where the name of the road you are following changes to Main Road, it is worth taking a short diversion by going to your right up Hawkhill Road to visit Eyam Museum before re-tracing your steps back to Main Road.
7. Follow Main Road to Town Head on the edge of the village, where you go to the left along Tideswell Lane. The smooth surface of the lane soon gives way to one that is much rougher, which you continue to walk along until it ends close by the A623.
8 At this point, turn right along the road signed for Foolow; there is no pavement for a short stretch. But, after a fork in the road, a pavement has been provided on the left, which leads you back to the centre of Foolow and the starting point of the walk.
FOOLOW
