Riley Graves, Eyam - a message for our times?

riley graves eyam
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I heard this story on the radio recently and you’ve captured sensitively a very emotional memory and image David.

Thanks, Tessa. It's a beautiful village, even though all the cottages have a plaque in the front garden telling you who lived, and died, there. This grave enclosure is just outside the village, and there are parallels with Covid-19. People who buried their entire family and tended to the sick for months survived for no apparent reason.

Hang on Studio Wall
30/05/2020
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A message for our times? The Plague arrived in the Derbyshire village of Eyam in 1665, in a bundle of cloth from London, and the villagers completely quarantined the village to prevent its spreading. Over 14 months half the population died, but the Plague never spread outside Eyam. These graves are just one family who all died within a week. Ink sketch with Unipin Fineline pens.

About the Artist
David Whitehead

I have always loved the British landscape – walking in it, photographing it and now, since early retirement, painting it in watercolour. I prefer to paint in the field and have experienced all the difficulties the British weather can present to a painter, from the sun drying the paint on the…

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