Emmott & Rowland (2017)

Rowland and Emmott were sweethearts and their story is a sad and romantic tragedy which has captured the imaginations of people who read about it. Rowland was the son of a flour miller and lived in Stoney Middleton and Emmott was a young girl who lived in a house called Bagshaw House, opposite the church at Eyam. The Sydall family were struck down early by the plague because they lived so close to the plague cottages where the disease killed the first victims. Emmott's father, brother and four sisters all died within a few days of each other in September and October 1665. Rowland comforted his beloved Emmott at this time of sorrow - but Emmott was worried that he would catch the plague as well. She begged him to stay away and not to come visiting. Eventually, he agreed and they used to meet at Cucklet Delph from time to time. They planned to get married. Unfortunately, Emmott caught the plague and died at the end of April 1666. Emmott's mother was the only one left out of her entire family. She could not bear living in the house where they had all lived so happily, so she left to go to stay with relatives who were living nearby. Meanwhile, Rowland kept going to the Delph in the hope of seeing Emmott. He heard rumours that his darling Emmott had died and day after day when she did not appear, he began to believe it was true. When the plague was over and people were allowed to enter the village, Rowland was one of the first to come. As he walked towards the cottage where Emmott and her family had lived, he met a villager who told him "Ah! Rowland, thy Emmott's dead and buried in Cussy Dell.