Eyam – the plague village

Eyam is a village in the Peak District. It is a quaint English town, set against the backdrop of an incredible history.

Eyam is famous for the collective actions of the town during the great plague, and how the town prevented the bubonic plague from spreading to the north of England.

The story begins in 1665, when a tailor ordered a delivery of fabric from London. At the time London was in the middle of an 18 month epidemic of Bubonic Plague, the final epidemic to hit Britain (ending in 1666). During this epidemic almost a quarter of Londons population died. The cause of Bubonic plague is Yersinia pestis bacterium, which is transmitted by fleas, the fabric that was delivered to Eyam was infested with infected fleas.

The transmission of Plague to Eyam was not the unusual part of the story however, that was how the village responded.

From May 1666 Eyam introduced measures such as outdoor church services, families burying their own dead, 

The Village completely shut itself down, no one traveled in or out for the entire epidemic. They received provisions from nearby villages, these were left at points on the village outskirts and collected later, money was left in holes filled with vinegar ontop of stones. The vinegar prevented any bacteria travelling in the money across the border of the quarentined village. The village was quarentined for 14 months, and roughly 273 villagers died out of the 350 population. The survivors seemed random, especially as some survivors were in close contact with the diseased. 

The Village today has amazing records from the parish, registering the dead and also the stories of families and individuals during the quarentine. It tells a story of incredible hardship and grief, but also strength, love and community. It would have only taken one person disobeying the quarentine to ruin all the sacrifices of the villagers.

Eyam’s story has been retold many times, and is often used to learn from for new diseases, especially since the actions of the village successfully prevented the great plague from spreading to the north of England.

For more information check out the museum in Eyam: https://www.eyam-museum.org.uk/