 Eyam Hall
At the heart of a tiny, rural village of Saxon origin, stands a regimental-looking,
late 17th century house of modest proportions, built from
the local millstone grit. This golden-coloured, E-shaped building,
with a uniformity of leaded light windows, and a 'no frills' approach
to external decoration, looks almost squashed into its surroundings. Despite
the lack of visual grandness, once the door is opened a very warm and
genuine welcome awaits the visitor, along with a wealth of family history.
Eyam Hall was built for John Wright and his new bride, Elizabeth, and their memory has been immortalised
in initials carved on one of the lead downpipes, as well as in family
portraits in the entrance hall. Some 330 years later, the present Wright
family are working hard to preserve the character and charm of this
wonderful old house and, where possible, have put back some of the original features
found in the house. A lovely example of this is in the tapestry room
where an array of magnificent tapestries, one dating back to the 15th
century, can be seen covering the walls from floor to ceiling, after
a lengthy process of repairs, cleaning and proper re-hanging.
The original kitchen at Eyam Hall, discovered beneath layers of plaster, linoleum, and built-in cupboards, has been
painstakingly restored and now appears much the same as it would have
in the early 1700s. Lying over the great tester bed in the bedroom
are the 18th century bedhangings that belonged to Jane Farewell,
who married John Wright's grandson, and many of her family portraits
are displayed on the walls.
An ancestral home would perhaps be considered dull and uninteresting without at least one of its dark
secrets being exposed to give it that air of romantic intrigue, and
Eyam Hall certainly does not disappoint in this respect. One of the window panes in
the library is delightfully engraved with a verse dedicated to Fanny
Holme. It is not known for sure who she was, or indeed what the relationship
was between her and the author, whose initials 'R W' suggest it could
have been Robert Wright, one of John Wright's great grandsons. Why he
felt moved to write a poem in this manner, declaring such adoration
for this mystery woman, is obviously one of the family skeletons.
This little village in the Peak District has not always been so peaceful, having a long history of
industrialism beginning in Roman times. What Eyam is most noted for, however,
is the way in which the villagers of 1665 put themselves into voluntary
quarantine to try and prevent the plague spreading to surrounding areas.
They did succeed, but not before it had claimed the lives of two-thirds
of the local population. Only a few years later Eyam Hall was built, signalling
a new era of life and prosperity for the villagers springing from the
ashes of their plague-ridden community.
As this is still very much a family home rather than a show house, many of the rooms are closed to
public access, but this in no way detracts from the comfy, lived-in feel
to Eyam Hall, right down to its creaky old floorboards. |
