Eyam

Vorlage:Infobox UK place Eyam (Vorlage:IPAc-en) is a small village in Derbyshire, England. The village is best known for being the "plague village" that chose to isolate itself when the plague was discovered there in August 1665, rather than let the infection spread. The village was founded and named by Anglo-Saxons, although lead had been mined in the area by the Romans.

Plague history

The plague had been brought to the village in a flea-infested bundle of cloth that was delivered to tailor George Viccars from London.

A 'plague' cottage with plaque commemorating some of the deaths.

Within a week he was dead and was buried on 7 September 1665. After the initial deaths, the townspeople turned to their rector, the Reverend William Mompesson, and the Puritan Minister Thomas Stanley. They introduced a number of precautions to slow the spread of the illness from May 1666. These included the arrangement that families were to bury their own dead and the relocation of church services from the parish church of St. Lawrence to Cucklett Delph to allow villagers to separate themselves, reducing the risk of infection. Perhaps the best-known decision was to quarantine the entire village to prevent further spread of the disease. The plague raged in the village for 14 months and it is stated that it killed at least 260 villagers with only 83 villagers surviving out of a population of 350. This figure has been challenged on a number of occasions with alternative figures of 430 survivors from a population of around 800 being given.

When the first outsiders visited Eyam a year later, they found that fewer than a quarter of the village had survived the plague. Survival appeared random, as many plague survivors had close contact with the bacterium but never caught the disease. For example, Elizabeth Hancock never became ill despite burying six children and her husband in eight days (the graves are known as the Riley graves). The unofficial village gravedigger Marshall Howe also survived, despite handling many infected bodies, as he had earlier survived catching the disease.

Places of interest

The Boundary Stone.

Today Eyam has various plague-related places of interest such as the Coolstone, a stone in which money, usually soaked in vinegar, which was believed to kill the infection, was placed in exchange for food and medicine, and the Riley graves as mentioned above. The only pub to be found in the village is the Miner's Arms. Opposite the church is the rather grand-looking Mechanics' Institute, used as the village hall meeting rooms. The Mechanics' Institute was established in Eyam in 1824, with a library paid for by subscription, which then contained 766 volumes. There were 30 members recorded in 1857, paying 3d. (the equivalent of 1p) per month. Up the main street is the Jacobean house Eyam Hall, built just after the plague. The green opposite has an ancient set of village stocks reputedly used to punish the locals for minor crimes. There is a picturesque Youth Hostel in the village.

Eyam Museum opened in 1994, including exhibits on local history in general and the 1665 Plague in particular.

Anglo-Saxon cross

7th century Anglo-Saxon cross.

Eyam churchyard contains an Anglo-Saxon cross dated to the 7th or 8th centuries. Initially, it was located at the side of a cart track near Eyam. It is Grade I listed and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. It is believed that the cross originally lay on a moor outside the village and was later moved to the churchyard. It is covered in complex carvings and is almost complete, but is missing a section of the shaft. A replica of the Eyam Cross, but with the missing part intact, forms the War Memorial at Blundells School in Tiverton in Devon.

Eyam's role in genetic research

Some research indicates that the villagers of Eyam may have had some genetic protection from the bubonic plague. A CCR5 gene mutation designated as "Delta 32" was found in a statistically significant number, 14%, of direct descendants of the plague survivors. The Delta 32 mutation appears to be very rare. In fact, the levels of Delta 32 found in Eyam were only matched in regions of Europe that had been affected by the plague and in Americans of European origin. It has also been suggested that the Delta 32 mutation, if inherited from both parents, may provide immunity to HIV/AIDS.

More recent research at Scripps Research Institute disputes the hypothesis that the Delta 32 mutation provided protection against the plague, suggesting instead that it is more likely to have arisen as protection against some other disease common at the time, such as smallpox. This new hypothesis was still being tested as of 2004.

Notable residents

• Anna Seward, acclaimed poet (1747–1809)
• Richard Furness, the Poet of Eyam (1791–1857)
• Hon. Robert John Eden, M.A. Rector of Eyam between 1823 and 1825. Afterwards 3rd Lord Auckland; Bishop of Sodor and Man 1847 - 1854, then Bishop of Bath and Wells, 1854 - 1869.
• Egbert Hacking, Rector of Eyam between 1884 and 1886, later Archdeacon of Newark

Literary and musical treatments

Poems

• The Village of Eyam: a poem in four parts by John Holland, Macclesfield, 1821
• The Desolation of Eyam by William and Mary Howitt, London, 1827, reissued by Kessinger Publishing, 2008
• The Tale of Eyam, a story of the plague in Derbyshire, and other poems by an OLD BLUE, London, 1888. Because of its subject, the poem was reviewed in The British Medical Journal for Nov. 30, 1889, where its poetic diction is taken literally: 'The author speaks of the pestilence and its hellborn brood; and again of firebolts from heaven's reeking nostrils. Such phraseology aptly exemplifies the mental attitude of men who lived in the infancy of modern science, when in the plague they saw the angry stroke of offended Deity, and recognised the 'scourge' of God in what we know to be only the scourge of filth.'

Novels

• God and the Wedding Dress by Marjorie Bowen, Hutchinson, 1938
• A Parcel of Patterns by Jill Paton Walsh, a novel for young adults, Puffin Books, 1983
• Children of Winter by Berlie Doherty, a fantasy novel for children, Methuen, 1985 and various editions thereafter; adapted for television 1994
• The Naming of William Rutherford by Linda Kempton, a fantasy novel for children, published by Heinemann, 1992 and various editions thereafter
• Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks, published by Fourth Estate, 2001, and various editions thereafter
• Black Death by M. I. McAllister, children’s fiction, Oxford University Press, 2003
• Kiss of Death by Malcolm Rose, a thriller for young adults, published by Usborne Publishing, 2006
• TSI: The Gabon Virus by Paul McCusker and Walt Larimore, M.D., Christian suspense fiction published by Howard Books (USA), 2009

Plays

• Isolation At Eyam; a play in one act for women by Joyce Dennys, published by French, 1954
• The Roses of Eyam by Don Taylor; first performed 1970, broadcast on TV in 1973; published by Heinemann, 1976
• Ring Around the Rosie by Anne Hanley; staged reading by Fairbanks Shakespeare Theatre (Alaska), 2004
• Plague at Eyam, a script for young adults published by the Association of Science Education, 2010

Operas

• Plague upon Eyam an opera in three acts by John D. Drummond, librettist Patrick Little; University of Otago Press (New Zealand), 1984; Songs recorded on Mr Polly at the Potwell Inn, Sirius CD SP004, 2000
• Ring Of White Roses, a one-act light opera by Les Emmans, librettist Pat Mugridge, 1984; published Plays & Musicals, 2004
• The Plague of Eyam by Ivor Hodgson, 2010; overture performed on BBC radio, March 2010

Musicals

• Eyam: A Musical, music by Andrew Peggie, book and lyrics by Stephen Clark; pioneered as a group production in 1990, CD Joseph Weinberger, 1995; London production at the Bridewell Theatre, 1998
• A Ring of Roses, Darren Vallier, Dress Circle Records (STG1) 1996; first performed at the Savoy Theatre, 1997; Jasper Publishing 2004
• The Ring of Stones, Eddie Brierley, Peter Robinson, Arthur Connett; premiered at the Dancehouse Theatre, Manchester (1999), before moving to the Lyric Theatre at the Lowry Centre in December 2000. Revived in 2010 and currently touring the North West of England, culminating with a week's run at the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Songs

• Roses of Eyam, originally composed by John Trevor (Beau) in 1975; added to Roy Bailey’s repertoire and recorded by him in 1985 on his Hard Times album and reissued on his album Past Masters, Fuse Records, 1998; Beau himself released the song officially for the first time as a bonus track on the 2007 UK reissue of the original Beau disc (Cherry Red), and on the 2008 Japanese release of the same album (Airmail Recordings).
• We All Fall Down, written by Leeds-based band iLiKETRAiNS and featured on their album Elegies to Lessons Learnt, 2007

See also

• Derby plague of 1665, Great Plague of London (also in 1665)

References

Footnotes

Sources

• John G. Clifford: Eyam Plague, 1665-1666. J.G. Clifford, Eyam 1989, OCLC 57354126. 

External links

Commons: Eyam – Album mit Bildern, Videos und Audiodateien

• Eyam Plague Village website
• Eyam at derbyshireuk.net
• Eyam at Survivors: Mad Dog
• A Dreadful Heritage: Interpreting Epidemic Disease at Eyam, 1666-2000 by Patrick Wallis; Working Papers on The Nature of Evidence: How Well Do ‘Facts’ Travel? No. 02/05, London School of Economics, May 2005

de:Eyam