The weather-vane was given to Eyam Museum as a millennium gift by Eyam Village Society, but it was a long time in the making and was not installed until 2002. You can hardly miss it as you pull up in the car park.

The black rat, Rattus rattus, became a symbol of the bubonic plague, for it was this hapless creature that carried the fleas which spread the deadly disease.

There was some discussion as to what form the weather-vane should take, but it was almost inevitable that, in Eyam, it would have to be a black rat.