Here is a link to information about the village of Eyam upon which the story is based. Sorry, I'm on a mobile so I couldn't do a proper link, but I liked this background info and wanted to share. I recommend if you are a "no spoilers" person then wait until you are about halfway through the story before you read about Eyam so it doesn't take away some of the surprise if you are unfamiliar with the real town.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyam#mw-mf-search