Eyam The Village That Limited the Spread of The Plague by Self-Imposed Isolation

Introduction

Eyam (pronounced ay-uhm) is a small village in the north of England in the county of Derbyshire. It is located at the south of the Peak District National Park roughly south of Manchester and south-west of Sheffield.

Why Eyam Was Famous in the 17th Century

I am sure that you have gleaned from this article’s title, Eyam’s fame in the 17^th century was for unselfishly limiting the spread of the plague by self-imposed isolation.

It is acknowledged that plague arrived in Eyam in 1665 in a bale of cloth from London. The bale of cloth was delivered to the village tailor’s house The village tailor Alexander Hadfield did not receive it. When it was received by Hadfield’s assistant George Viccars, he opened the parcel and found the material to be damp, he consequently hung it by the fire to dry out. He was not aware however, that by doing so he was awakening some fleas which had been bundled in with the fabric. These fleas were infected with the deadly plague, and soon hopped on to the unsuspecting assistant.

Viccars developed symptoms shortly after that would have terrified the villagers, knowing the doom it portended. Before long he died from the plague, and within the month 5 others died too. Any hopes that the disease may spare them were dashed throughout autumn when steadily household after household was hit, with whole families being killed. Deaths slowed across winter and spring, perhaps bringing hope to the villagers, but as a hot summer hit the county the infected fleas increased their activity. In June 1666 21 of the villages died, 14 of them across one week. As it became clear the plague was not done with them yet, a radical idea was proposed by the village’s priest.

Reverend William Mompesson was a newcomer to Eyam, having only arrived in April 1664. His predecessor, Thomas Stanley – who was popular with the villagers had been removed from his post, because he refused to acknowledge the 1662 Act of Uniformity introduced by the newly restored King Charles II. This made it compulsory for churches and priests to use Charles’ Book of Common Prayer. However, Eyam had been on the Parliamentary side of the Civil War of a few decades prior and leant in a more Puritanical direction in line with Oliver Cromwell. They supported their old rector over this intruder as Mompesson had not yet found popularity amongst the villagers.

Mompesson was keen to do what he could to save not only his immediate parishioners, but the people across Derbyshire and beyond. He had a plan, now he just needed help. So, he took his idea to Stanley, who had been living on the edge of the village and persuaded him to get on board.

On 24^th June 1666, the same day another resident, Ann Skidmore, was buried, Mompesson and Stanley stood before the congregation. Mompesson proposed a 17^th-century lockdown: no one in or out of the village. The Earl of Devonshire, the local landowner, had agreed to send food and supplies to the village to ensure their survival, and the goods would be left at boundary stones outside the immediate vicinity of Eyam. The villagers would leave coins – disinfected with vinegar – as payment, and the plague would not leave the village and infect anyone else.

Many of the villagers were, understandably, not keen on the idea. But Mompesson’s wisdom in recruiting Stanley paid dividends, as he was able to persuade the residents of Eyam to listen to the plan. Everyone was going to get through this together. They knew that many, if not most of them would die, but at least they could go to God knowing that they had not been responsible for spreading this dreadful disease any further.

The plan sprang into action. The villagers became responsible for themselves, avoiding their neighbors wherever possible. Instead of burying their families in the churchyard, risking transporting infected bodies through the village, they would be buried in their gardens or close to their homes. People would not gather to hear Sunday service in the church, but instead the town stood in the open air at Cucklet Delf, a limestone cavern and bank, appropriately socially distanced from family to family. The “all in it together” atmosphere may have been slightly marred by the fact that Mompesson had already sent his children away from Eyam to Yorkshire to protect them from the plague

The first two months of the quarantine were devastating for Eyam. In July 56 people died, followed by 78 in August. Entire families were decimated: a woman named Elizabeth Hancock lost her husband and 6 children across the space of one week. Because of the restrictions on burials in the village, Elizabeth had the agony of burying them each – two on the 3^rdAugust, three on the 7^th and two across the 9^th and 10^thwithout any assistance from others on a small plot by the family’s farm. Legend says that her neighbors from the nearby village of Stoney Middleton watched her go about her work from a nearby hill that overlooked the farm, powerless to help her.

But despite the heavy death toll, some members of the village found that they did not succumb to the disease, even when their entire household did. These people took on caring roles and one man, Marshall Howe, decided to make the most of his immunity. Howe had been infected with the plague when it first hit the village but had lived, and now had strong faith in his resistance. He began to help people bury their dead family members and helped himself to the victims’ possessions as payment for doing so. Sadly, his family were not so lucky, and his wife and two-year-old son were among those who died that August.

Mompesson did his best to keep up the spirits of his congregation during this terrifying time, but soon even his spirit was broken. On the 22^ndAugust 1666, at the height of the deaths in Eyam, he and his wife took a walk in the nearby hills that formed part of their quarantined village. The next morning, she died. Mompesson was devastated and wrote “I am a dying man”. His wife Catherine was fortunate enough to have been granted a church burial right at the church door and her tomb still survives today.

As Autumn 1666 swept in, the deaths were steady but slowing. On the 18^thOctober Francis Morten was buried, followed by William Morten ten days later the 28^th, and finally Abraham Morten on the 1^stNovember. Abraham was the last recorded plague death in the village. Winter had finally brought an end to the plague in Eyam.

Once the villagers were sure that no more cases were coming, they cautiously came out of their isolation. Plague had ravaged them for 14 months in total, and 259 people had died. Mompesson identified 76 households who had been touched by the plague. It is not known exactly how many people had been living in Eyam as the plague struck, but recent research has identified at least 700 individuals. In the 18^th century it had been thought that just 350 people lived in the village and thus that the plague had almost killed everybody, but this new research puts the death toll at between a third and a half of the population, which is in line with other death toll estimates of other plague outbreaks.

Visiting Eyam in the 2022

I found it very interesting visiting Eyam in 2022. Graves are literally in the gardens of the residents. I suspect It is a strange concept to have people staring at these graves, and in most cases reading details of the deceased individuals.

We saw school group of teenagers being guided through the village. They were asking questions, I suspect that as children of the COVID era they had a completely different perspective of isolation, having experienced it recently in their lives. Hence a different perspective than people pre-COVID.

What Plague Is

The Great Plague of 1666-67 was the worst outbreak of plague in England since the black death of 1348. London lost roughly 15% of its population. While 68,596 deaths were recorded in the city, the true number was probably over 100,000. Other parts of the country also suffered.

The earliest cases of disease occurred in the spring of 1665 in a parish outside the city walls called St Giles-in-the-Fields. The death rate began to rise during the hot summer months and peaked in September when 7,165 Londoners died in one week.

Rats carried the fleas that caused the plague. They were attracted by city streets filled with rubbish and waste, especially in the poorest areas.

Those who could, including most doctors, lawyers, and merchants, fled the city. Charles II and his courtiers left in July for Hampton Court and then Oxford. Parliament was postponed and had to sit in October at Oxford, the increase of the plague being so dreadful. Court cases were also moved from Westminster to Oxford.

The Lord Mayor and aldermen (town councillors) remained to enforce the King’s orders to try and stop the spread of the disease. The poorest people remained in London with the rats and those people who had the plague. Watchmen locked and kept guard over infected houses. Parish officials provided food. Searchers looked for dead bodies and took them at night to plague pits for burial.

All trade with London and other plague towns was stopped. The Council of Scotland declared that the border with England would be closed. There were to be no fairs or trade with other countries. This meant many people lost their jobs – from servants to shoemakers to those who worked on the river Thames. How did Londoners react to this plague that devastated their lives?

Types of Plague

There are three types of plague. Most of the sick in 1665-1666 had bubonic plague. This created swellings (buboes) in the lymph nodes found in the armpits, groin, and neck. Plague sufferers experienced headaches, vomiting and fever. They had a 30% chance of dying within two weeks. This type of plague spread from a bite caused by a black rat flea that carried the Yersinia pestis bacteria.

Worse still was pneumonic plague, which attacked the lungs and spread to other people through coughing and sneezing, and septicaemic plague, which occurred when the bacteria entered the blood. In these cases, there was little hope of survival.

Treatments and prevention at the time did not help. Sometimes, patients were bled with leeches. People thought impure air caused the disease and

could be cleansed by smoke and heat. Children were encouraged to smoke to ward off bad air. Sniffing a sponge soaked in vinegar was also an option.

As the colder weather set in, the number of plague victims started to fall. This was not due to any remedies used. Nor was it due to the fire of London that had destroyed many of the houses within the walls of the city and by the River Thames. (Many plague deaths had occurred in the poorest parishes outside the city walls.)

Some scientists suggest that the black rat had started to develop a greater resistance to the disease. If the rats did not die, their fleas would not need to find a human host and fewer people would be infected. Probably, people started to develop a stronger immunity to the disease. Also, in plague scares after 1666, more effective quarantine methods were used for ships coming into the country. There was never an outbreak of plague in Britain on this scale again.

Trivia

The nursery rhyme, “Ring-a-ring-of-roses” is associated with plague. The “ring” referred to in the rhyme represents the mark on the cheek that those who caught the plague exhibited.”Atishoo, Atishoo, we all fall down.
“Employs onomatopoeic words to express the sneezing that was responsible for spreading deadly pneumonic plague. These are the correct lyrics to this rhyme.

I have asked Americans why instead of “Atishoo, Atishoo” they say “Ashes, Ashes”? I have received several times with certainty that the answer is: that ashes were a result of burning the bodies. That explanation is incorrect

Credits

Excerpts were used from:

https//www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
https//www.justhistory.com

I was born and lived to the age of 23 just 29 miles from Eyam, but never visited this fascinating little village. Many thanks to my nephew Andrew McCarey for chauffeuring us to a memorable experience.