The Plague Village

Each year, on the last Sunday of August, a ceremony is held in Eyam, Derbyshire. People gather to remember the victims of the bubonic plague, which tore through the village in a twelve-month period from 1665 to 1666. During the current global pandemic, the ceremony will take place, but online this year. You can watch here: https://www.eyamchurch.org/calendar/event.php?event=1034

The plague arrived in Eyam in September 1665. George Vicars, a tailor’s assistant, opened a package of fabric from London. The material was damp, so George laid it out in front of the fire to air. This was the opportunity for the fleas travelling within the fabric to disperse. Carrying with them bubonic plague germs.

George died quickly, and others followed soon afterwards. Naturally, the villagers were frightened; some fled their homes or sent their children away. This was not an option for all though, so many remained. The disease was less prevalent over winter, but with the coming of spring, there was a resurgence in cases. The illness spread quickly through the small community. In order to try to protect the wider population, the two village reverends persuaded people to remain in Eyam, in a form of local quarantine.

Residents worked together to try to stop the spread of the plague. Bodies were buried quickly, by the family of the deceased. The church closed, and services were held in the open air. People from neighbouring towns and villages agreed to leave supplies at pick-up points. In return, residents of Eyam left payment in water containers and troughs filled with a vinegar solution, which appeared to kill the germs. A strict boundary was set up around the village, beyond which residents were not permitted to pass. Signs were erected, warning travellers not to cross the line into the village.

It must have been terrifying and heart-breaking to be trapped during this time. Think of Elizabeth Hancock, for example, whose husband and six children died within eight days of one and other. Elizabeth, meanwhile, survived. And William Mompesson, one of the reverends who persuaded people to quarantine, and oversaw many of the measures taken to try to stop the spread. He survived, but his wife, Catherine, died a few weeks before the plague finally began to run its course. After twelve months, the plague was gone. And with it, much of the village population. Entire families had been wiped out; only a sixth of the community remained. The disease had been contained within the boundaries of the quarantine, but at an enormous cost.

Hancock family graves circled by a wall in a field just outside the village

Under the quarantine guidance, the family were probably buried by Elizabeth, who survived

We visited Eyam a few years ago. It is a beautiful place. The self-sacrifice made by the villagers is commemorated with various plaques and stones around the village. It was a humbling experience to see the homes where families were torn apart, and to view some of the gravestones. And today, on commemoration day, it seems appropriate to remember the people of Eyam, and the hundreds of others around the world who have sacrificed themselves to keep others safe during the current Covid-19 pandemic.

The final words go to a Victorian historian, William Wood …

“Let all who tread the green fields of Eyam remember, with feelings of awe and veneration, that beneath their feet repose the ashes of those moral heroes, who with a sublime, heroic and unparalleled resolution gave up their lives, – yea! doomed themselves to pestilential death to save the surrounding country.”