Year of Wonders

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About half a mile out of the main village is a curious feature: a wall made out of rough, flat stones, punctuated with unusual openings whose edges have worn smooth with time. The wall is unique for it is the relic of a tragedy and triumph – from Eyam’s past. For in 1666, the people of Eyam took the unprecedented step of isolating themselves and their village from the rest of Derbyshire when the village became infected by the last outbreak of bubonic plague in Britain. This brave action devastated the settlement, but at the same time earned Eyam the reputation as the village that stopped the plague. The Great Plague of London, 1665. Google Images. The Great Plague of 1665 Two brooks flow through the village, the Jumber Brook and Hollow Brook. [27] Cultural representations [ edit ] Paintings [ edit ] The boys died in infancy. Mompesson himself died in 1709. What of those who survived? One of the most interesting was Marshall Howe. He buried those who had died when no one else could do it.

Eyam was then contained and survived on its own for the next 14 months. They decided to rely on themselves and received supplies from outlying villages. The Tale of Eyam, a story of the plague in Derbyshire, and other poems by an OLD BLUE, London, 1888. The parish churchyard itself has only one victim buried there – Catherine Mompesson, the rector’s wife. She died in August 1666, when the plague was at its most rampant. Eight villagers died on August 13 alone. The village of Eyam, while undoubtedly saving the lives of thousands in the surrounding area, paid a high price. Percentage wise they suffered a higher death toll than that of London. 260 Eyam villagers died over the 14 months of the plague out of a total population of 800. 76 families were affected by the plague; many such as the Thorpe family were wiped out completely. However the impact on medical understanding was significant. Mae lives alone with her father, the village pharmacist, in the English town of Eyam after her mother and sister Leah both died. Mae’s father Wulfric is strict and doesn’t know that his daughter is secretly visiting Isabel, the village midwife. Isabel was Mae’s mother’s best friend and does not trust Wulfric at all. She has even been branded a witch by him. And then the plague threatens to come to Eyam…

Eyam’s Quarantine

This is still an academic nonfiction text, but a lot more accessible (and short!) if those Cohn books are overwhelming (or just not your cup of tea). This was the first book on the Plague I read and I still think it’s a nice intro. Years of Wonder: A Novel of the Plague by pulitzer prize winning Geraldine Brooks Notes on Books". Br Med J. British Medical Journal Publishing Group. 2 (1509): 1225. 30 November 1889. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.1509.1225. S2CID 220238362– via www.bmj.com. The Plague Village of Eyam, Derbyshire, John Symmonds, St George’s News – Waterlooville’s Parish Magazine, December 2017 Only a few thin strands of evidence connect the rich stories that have been woven around Eyam’s epidemic with recorded history. The sum total of records from the plague itself is scanty: three letters by Mompesson written in 1666, the parish’s burial register and inscriptions on graves scattered around the village. Only two other written sources, one from 1702 and another from 1722, have credible claims to drawing on actual witnesses, and even they are second-hand, from the sons of the two priests, Mompesson and Stanley.

Howitt, William; Howitt, Mary Botham (28 March 1827). "The Desolation of Eyam: the Emigrant: A Tale of the American Woods and Others Poems". Wightman and Cramp – via Google Books. You’ll find hot and cold lunches on the menu as well as ice creams, and other treats. Plus, they have a small gift shop. There are twists and turns, developments, suspense, and a full character cast that all add together to make this novel one of a kind and truly immersive. I whole heartedly recommend this historical fiction that I truly enjoyed. From the M1....Take the Chesterfield exit and then follow signs for Bakewell. In Baslow (past the Chatsworth estate gates), take the right turn at the second large roundabout, past the church, and follow the road to the crossroads at Calver. Travel straight ahead, through Stoney Middleton, and then look out for signs to Eyam on the right. As you come into the village, take the first left turn and head past the church to find the car park.

Parish Headcounts: Eyam CP". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics . Retrieved 12 April 2007. The Naming of William Rutherford by Linda Kempton, a fantasy novel for children, published by Heinemann, 1992. [60] As the village continues to change, and remains a vital and beautiful place, so too the Museum tells the changing story of Eyam and its people. In so doing it sets the scene for a visit to the village, where you can still see where it all started.

As well as Eyam, we get to travel to the plague capital city of London. This brings the small and isolated village into stark contrast and it shows how the plague ravaged the streets, people’s lives and the entire country as a result. Those poor villagers, miles away, were never far from my mind. So, why is the small village of Eyam significant? In the words of a Victorian local Historian William Wood…However in Eyam, a small village in the north, they acted in a unique way. Their intention was to act decisively and prevent the spread of disease. When Mae makes a horrifying discovery, Isabel is the only person she can turn to. But helping Mae will place them both in unspeakable peril. A It had the symptoms of a very bad flu – headache, nausea, weakness, fever. It sometimes affected breathing. The main features were swellings, called buboes – some as big as an egg, Many people died of it. At that time, although many cures were tried, there was really no cure for the Plague. There were no vaccines, no NHS, no national advice through the media. The best people could do was to quarantine themselves to try to prevent the plague passing from one person to another. Nobody knew how it was spread. It was generally believed to be airborne. Cottage of the Hawksworth family, early victims of the 1665-1666 plague in Eyam. Picture by Dave Pope. Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain. An apothecary, William Boghurst, noted of his treatment of one female victim: “I laid a great mastiff puppy dog upon her breast two or three hours together and made her drink Dill, Penny-royal, Fennel and Aniseed water, for she was a fat woman and could bear it.’’

What really captivated me about this was the fact that it's all told from the perspective of Leah, Mae's older, and long dead, sister. I cannot stress enough how well this was done. Leah's character, despite not being able to directly interact with any of the other characters, is so well thought out. She is flawed and sometimes really unlikeable, but altogether human. The village of Eyam," its historian begins his account, "has been long characterized throughout the Peak of Derbyshire, as the birthplace of genius – the seat of the Muses – the Athens of the Peak". During the 18th century the place was notable for having no fewer than four poets associated with it. Reverend Peter Cunningham, curate there between 1775 and 1790, published two sermons during that time as well as several poems of a political nature. In addition, William Wood's account speaks of "numberless stones in the burial place that contain the offerings of his muse". [33] The present parish church of St. Lawrence dates from the 14th century, but evidence of an earlier church there can be found in the Saxon font, a Norman window at the west end of the north aisle, and Norman pillars that are thought to rest on Saxon foundations. There have been alterations since the Middle Ages, including a large sundial dated 1775 mounted on a wall outside. Some of the rectors at the church have had contentious histories, none less than the fanatically Royalist Sherland Adams who, it was accused, "gave tythe of lead ore to the King against the Parliament", and as a consequence was removed from the living and imprisoned. Stanley and Monpesson were successful in convincing the villagers to observe the quarantine. During the period Eyam was sealed off, only two people tried to leave the village. One, a woman broke quarantine so she could attend the market in the town of Tideswell just five miles away. However, once she arrived at her destination, people recognized her as a resident of Eyam and drove her away with missiles of food and mud and cries of “ The Plague, The Plague.”Perhaps the villagers of Eyam did not leave because they knew there was no sanctuary for them in the outside world. Two Lovers separated by the Quarantine. Detail from Plague Stained Glass window in St Lawrence’s Church, Eyam. Google Images.

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A three point plan was established and agreed with the villagers. The most important part of this was the setting up of a Cordon Sanitaire or quarantine. This line went around the outskirts of the village and no Eyam resident was allowed to pass it. Signs were erected along the line to warn travellers not to enter. During the time of the quarantine there were almost no attempts to cross the line, even at the peak of the disease in the summer of 1666. Eyam was not a self supporting village. It needed supplies. To this end the village was supplied with food and essentials from surrounding villages. The Earl of Devonshire himself provided supplies that were left at the southern boundary of the village. To pay for these supplies the villagers left money in water troughs that were filled with vinegar. With the limited understanding they did possess, the villagers realised that vinegar helped to kill off the disease. In the weeks and months that followed, people watched so many of their neighbours die, often whole families, as plaques outside a row of the cottages beside the church show so movingly. Read More Related Articles By the end of October there were 23 more victims who had succumbed to the plague. Amongst them was Jonathon Cooper, Mary Hadfield’s eldest son, another member of the Hawksworth family and five more of the Thorpe family, and a few others. The total of 29 deaths so far had exceeded the average annual mortality rate over the previous decade, although the onset of winter did see a drop in the death rate. At the end of April 1666 a total of 73 deaths from the plague had been recorded, and at last the villagers thought the worst was over. However these hopes proved to be shortlived as sadly this was only the end of the beginning. By now six of the eight Sydall family members had died and all nine of the Thorpes across the road had perished. It's so easy for characters like Wulfric to be on their pedestal, praised for their work; and never looking too close at his own sins.