Emily Chan
The picturesque village of Eyam is nestled amidst the rolling hills of England’s Peak District. However, it is not just known for being a quaint and charming hamlet. It’s also a place of unimaginable tragedy, sacrifice, and resilience.
In the year 1665, Eyam was ravaged by the bubonic plague. As the disease spread rapidly throughout the village, the residents of Eyam made the difficult decision to isolate themselves from the outside world in order to prevent the plague from infecting people in neighboring towns.
It all began in late August 1665 when a box of cloth from London arrived at the cottage of a tailor named Alexander Hadfield. The plague had already killed thousands of inhabitants in London. The tailor’s assistant, George Viccars, opened the box and laid the damp cloth in front of the hearth to dry, unleashing the disease-ridden fleas within the package.
Soon after, he became extremely ill. Within a week, Viccars was dead, the first victim of the plague. The plague swept through the community. Between September and December of 1665, the disease claimed the lives of 42 villagers.
Some people fled the village to save themselves, but it isn’t clear how many managed to leave. Most of the villagers didn’t have the means to abandon their livelihoods and make an escape.
By the spring of 1666, fear, panic, and the number of deaths were at an all-time high, so it was at this point that the newly appointed rector, William Mompesson, came up with a plan to prevent the plague from reaching the nearby towns of Sheffield and Bakewell. He decided that the village needed to be quarantined. No one would be allowed in or out.
He told the villagers that the Earl of Devonshire, who lived nearby at Chatsworth House, had agreed to send them food and supplies if they remained isolated. Mompesson promised the villagers that he would do everything he could to ease their suffering. He was willing to sacrifice his own life if that meant the outbreak would not decimate the surrounding towns.
In August 1666, the death rate was the highest it had ever been, reaching a peak of five or six deaths per day. By then, organized funerals were a thing of the past. Villagers had to bury the dead as soon as possible in gardens or fields so the decomposing bodies would not release the infection into the air.
Survivors of the plague were forced to bear the heart-wrenching responsibility of burying their loved ones. A woman named Elizabeth Hancock buried her husband and six children near their family farm. They had all perished in the span of just eight days. It is said that people stood by and watched her because they were too afraid of getting infected to help.
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