WHISPERS OF THE PAST

How Eyam’s crisis three and a half centuries ago offers inspiration for current challenges

- ROLY SMITH

To anyone with a passing knowledge of Peak District history, the current Government advice to self-isolate to limit the spread of the coronavirus is a chilling reminder of the “visitation” of the Plague to Eyam nearly 355 years ago.

The village’s self-imposed 17th century lockdown, which has been described as ‘one of the most epic stories in the annuals of rural life’, was selflessly designed to try to halt the spread of the dreaded disease to other parts of Derbyshire. But it came at an horrendous cost: a total of 259 victims from 76 families died out of a total population of less than 1,000. Although there had been previous outbreaks in the county in places like Ashbourne, Derby and Chesterfield, the Eyam outbreak appears to have been the last, and the spread seems to have been halted.

The story of ‘the Plague village’ of Eyam is well known, chiefly from the account by local man William Wood in his History and Antiquities of Eyam, first published in 1842. It has now become an essential part of Peak District folklore, but is perhaps worth repeating.

It was in early September 1665 that George Viccars, a journeyman tailor lodging with widow Mary Cooper in a cottage west of the church, received a box of textiles from Plague-ravaged London. When it was opened the contents were found to be musty and damp, so they were put in front of the fire to dry out.