Description: A Saxon Cross, decorated with runes, standing in the churchyard at Eyam. The cross dates to the 7th century and was once a wayside preaching cross, which stood to the west of the village at Cross Low. It is carved with a mixture of pagan and Christian symbols. It stands about eight feet high, although about a foot of the top of the shaft has been broken off and lost. A variety of figures are embossed on the shaft, with many singular symbolical designs. On the arms of the cross are figures blowing trumpets, others are holding crosses, one is holding a book and on the western side of the shaft is a figure representing the Virgin and Child. Runic and Scandinavian knots liberally adorn its sides. Eyam is famous as the 'plague village', which went into voluntary quarantine when the plague was imported from London in a chest of textiles in 1665. The church in the centre of the village has many relics of the Plague, including Mompesson's (William Mompesson, Vicar of Eyam) chair, gravestones of Plague victims and the Parish Register recording the deaths. ( The ghost of Catherine Mompesson, wife of the William, is often reported walking through the churchyard, pausing at the Eyam Cross.) The church may be built on Saxon foundations, but mostly dates from the 13th and 14th centuries.