A Visit To The ‘Plague Village’ Of Eyam

The Great Plague of 1665 was the last major outbreak of bubonic plague in Britain. London suffered the worst of it in terms of sheer numbers, where an estimated 100,000 people, around 15–20% of the city’s population, lost their lives.

However one of the most remarkable stories of the epidemic took place, not in the capital, but a small Derbyshire village. I travelled up to Eyam where, remarkably, after the plague arrived, the villagers voluntarily isolated themselves for fourteen months in an attempt to stop the disease spreading to neighbouring communities. Their extraordinary decision has made Eyam forever known as the ‘Plague Village’ and a lasting symbol of courage, resilience and sacrifice.

Below is a map of Eyam and the spots that I mention in the post.

Eyam: A Quiet Dales Village

Eyam (pronounced ‘Eem’) is a village nestled in the rolling hills of the Derbyshire Dales, in the Peak District, roughly 25 miles South West of Sheffield. It was established back in the Anglo-Saxon period and was, for centuries, a small, isolated, farming and lead mining community. 

Today, Eyam has a population of just under 1,000 people. In 1665, historians estimate that around 800 people lived here, so actually not wildly different.

The Plague Arrives In London

London had seen outbreaks of the plague before, in 1563, 1593, 1625 and most notably the Black Death in the 14th century, which killed around half the population of the country. 

In the Spring of 1665, the last major outbreak began, most likely starting in the cramped slum conditions of St Giles in the Fields, North West of Covent Garden. 

As the summer heat intensified, the disease, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, usually transmitted by fleas living on rodents, spread rapidly through London’s overcrowded streets. King Charles II and his court left London and the authorities attempted to contain the spread by locking infected families inside their own homes. 

Infected goods and travellers started to spread the disease to others cities, towns and villages. 

How Did The Plague Reach Eyam?

The traditional story is that plague reached Eyam in a parcel of tailor’s cloth, or possibly second-hand clothing, sent from London to the village tailor, Alexander Hadfield. His assistant, George Viccars, is said to have unpacked the bundle and hung the damp material out to dry. According to the story, infected fleas hidden within the cloth sought out a new host, transmitting the disease.

Within days Viccars fell ill and died. His funeral took place on the 7th September. His violent death was followed a couple of weeks later by those of his two stepsons, his neighbours, and eventually the tailor himself.

There is debate amongst historians about whether this can be the only way that plague was brought to the village considering the scale of the outbreak. Either way, the infection spread rapidly throughout the autumn of 1665, panic and fear naturally spreading also. 

The outbreak did slow down in the winter, but returned with renewed vigour in the spring and summer of 1666. Over fourteen months the disease claimed the lives of 260 villagers. 

An Extraordinary Response

As the contagion started to pick up rapidly again in June 1666, the parish rector, William Mompesson, and his predecessor, Thomas Stanley, led the community to agree to isolate itself from the outside world in an attempt to prevent the disease from spreading to neighbouring villages. 

Burying The Dead

Firstly, no more organised funerals or churchyard burials would take place. People were instead advised to bury their own dead, which they did in local fields, gardens or orchards. 

Worship In The Open Air

Secondly the church was closed and services took place in open air. They considered a safe distance at the time with strangers as around 12 feet. William Mompession gave sermons from the nearby outcrop of limestone, which became known as ‘Cucklet Church’. The rock was his pulpit and the villagers would stand down in the valley, which today is wooded. 

A Village Sealed Off

Finally, a boundary was established around Eyam, marked by stones and natural features, beyond which residents would not pass. The restrictions that were in place in London were not in place in Derbyshire, so this was effectively a voluntary quarantine.

Food and supplies were left at agreed collection points by people from surrounding communities. The Duke of Devonshire for example at nearby Chatsworth House was a major benefactor. Money would then be left often by Eyam villagers for payment. At Mompesson’s Well, the money would be left in the running water, which was thought to have cleansed it of ‘the seeds of the plague’. At the boundary stone, holes were drilled into the stone into which money would be placed and then topped up with vinegar. 

The quarantine appears to have been remarkably effective, with very few deaths in the surrounding parishes. The sacrifice the villagers made paid off for wider population. The peak of the plague in Eyam was in August 1666 when 78 died, before declining over the coming months. The final death in Eyam took place in October or November 1666. 

What To See

Much of Eyam’s plague story can still be traced around the village today, including graves and cottages where villagers were quarantined, turning that wider historical story into something much more personal. 

Eyam Museum

I started with a visit to Eyam Museum, which gives a good background on the history of the outbreak. Not only that, it really focusses in on the lives of specific families and villagers, giving the human dimension to the statistics. 

You can also pick up maps here showing where all of the below spots are.

St Lawrence’s Church 

The church largely dates back to the 13th-15th centuries. It has surviving pre-Reformation murals and a Saxon font. 

You can also find the Plague Window, a stained glass window given to the church by Mrs Creswick in memory of her husband installed in 1985. It tells the story of the plague in Eyam. It shows for example Viccars dying in bed and Mompesson delivering his outdoor sermons. In the bottom, central panel is an image of medieval St Paul’s Cathedral. To the left of it is St Lawrence’s Church as it is today.

In the churchyard, near the Saxon cross, is the grave of Catherine Mompesson, wife of William, the Rector.

He had begged his wife and children to leave the village at the beginning of the outbreak. She sent the children away but stayed with her husband to assist him in looking after the sick and bereaved. One evening Catherine remarked on the sweetness of the air, which William recognised as an early symptom of the plague. Within a couple of days she was dead and was buried on the 25th August 1666. 

William himself, by the way, the man that bravely led the villagers in this voluntary quarantine, survived the plague. He remarried in 1670 and died in 1709.

Plague Cottages

Not far from the church are a row of cottages collectively known as the ‘Plague Cottages’. One was where George Viccars lived and died as the first victim in the village. 

Another is called Rose Cottage where nine members of the Thorpe family lived, all of whom died. 

Finally, this cottage is where the Hawksworth family lived. Peter Hawksworth was the third victim of the plague in the village on the 23rd September 1665. Their fifteen month year old son Humphrey died on the 17th October. Jane, mother and wife, survived, but lost 25 family members in total. 

‘Cucklet Church’

You can wander ten minutes or so to ‘Cucklet Church’, Mompesson’s temporary outdoor amphitheatre for his sermons. 

An annual procession and remembrance service is held at Cucklet Church on ‘Plague Sunday’, which takes place on the last Sunday in August. 

Family Graves

There are a few different graves scattered around the village that have survived. For example the Riley Graves. This heartbreaking set of graves, set in an enclosure in a field outside the village are for the Hancock family.

Over just eight days Elizabeth Hancock lost her husband and six children. She carried them herself to the nearby Riley Field for burial. She relocated to Sheffield after the plague to live with her one surviving son. 

Below are the Lydgate graves, for George Darby and his daughter Mary, who died on the 4th July 1666 and 4th September 1666 respectively. Again they were buried here on farmland by their house by their wife and mother. 

Finally, just behind Hollin’s Farmhouse, you can find the grave of Humphrey Merrill, the village herbalist.

Andrew Merrill, a relative who lived with him, is said to have survived the plague by going to live in a shack outside the main village, with just his pet cockerel to keep him company!

Mompesson’s Well

I finished by heading up to Mompesson’s Well, a natural spring. As well as the boundary stone, mentioned earlier, this is where money would be left for other villages in exchange for food and other supplies. 

I found my visit to Eyam fascinating and moving. Today it feels like a peaceful, calm English village, and particularly felt so on the beautiful sunny, summer’s day when I visited. It is, however, extraordinary to walk its streets and see the buildings where, just over 350 years ago, this great human tragedy and act of self-sacrifice and resilience took place. 

Thank you for reading, more incredible historical places outside of London below…