'Its character shall not be destroyed': Narrative, heritage, and tourism in the plague village (England)

Eyam is a historic village in the English North Midlands, famous because it was the site of a great outbreak of plague in 1665--1666. When the plague hit, the villagers ultimately agreed to quarantine themselves within a specific boundary around Eyam in order to prevent the spread of plague to neighboring areas. The village was saved although as many as 1/3 of the population died before the plague ended. Today, Eyam is one of the most-visited tourist sites in the Peak District, the world's busiest national park (22,000,000 visitors in 1996). The community---still populated by the descendants of the plague's victims and survivors---is undergoing rapid changes due largely to economic and social factors related to tourism and suburban migrations from large cities nearby. Historically, Eyam has been a laborer's and agricultural community, and local incomes cannot measure up against those of wealthier "newcomers" who wish to move into the village and enjoy its specific historical appeal. Consequently, the village is being depopulated and repopulated while community change is mediated by several outside forces: national and county planning regulations, the Peak District's own planning restrictions, and the natural forces of local representation managed for consumption by tourists who arrive with very narrow and specific expectations. Altogether, this has created an unhappy situation in Eyam. Opinions---though strong---vary significantly, polarized around the opposing beliefs that (a) tourist cash can reinvigorate what was really a withering village and (b) economic and social forces exerted mostly through "heritage tourism" are killing a community that had survived for centuries before outside priorities were favored over local needs.; This folkloristic study is based on archival and public documents as well as ethnographic fieldwork in the village conducted on several occasions during a five-year period. It examines Eyam's current perceived crisis as a case study how community is interpreted in the context of heritage tourism, suburbanization, and a vast and powerful public and private planning and development structure.