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Derbyshire again, but not too far from Staffordshire:

Eyam is one of the best-preserved villages in the vicinity and is the famous 'plague village', which went into voluntary quarantine when the plague was imported from London in 1665.

http://www.peakdistrictinformation.com/towns/eyam.php

From this link about plague in Derbyshire, mainly in 1640's;

http://martindocksey.weebly.com/the-plague-in-burslem.html

Life expectancy at birth in North Staffordshire in 1570 was as high as 40 years and was as low as 30 years by 1670. The impact of War, Famine, Plague, Smallpox and other diseases, along with the increasing birth rate, caused this drastic reduction.

The plague certainly spread across the whole country. The nursery rhyme Ring-a-Ring of Roses refers to the plague, in particular to the village of Eyam in Derbyshire, where the villagers imposed a voluntary quarantine on themselves. Nobody was allowed in or out until all those who were going to die had done so and there were no more sick people.

So I would guess that your epidemic in Staffordshire was the plague.

Thanks for your replies ladies, I'll certainly have a look at what you've suggested

Wasn't that about the time of the Great Plague of London? Although mainly in London it did spread to other parts of the country.

Kath. x

There is The History of A history of epidemics in Britain from AD664. Might be worth a leaf through the pages. See link below


https://archive.org/stream/historyofepidemi01crei#page/n3/mode/2up

Has anyone got any ideas as to how I may find out if there were any major/minor health outbreaks in Staffordshire in the years 1665 - 1669.
I've done a Google search but not been successful and I wondered if there were more specific sites

Thanks