Eyam

Eyam
Population	926 (2001)
OS grid reference	SK220764
District	Derbyshire Dales
Shire county	Derbyshire
Region	East Midlands
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	HOPE VALLEY
Postcode district	S32
Dialling code	01433
Police	Derbyshire
Fire	Derbyshire
Ambulance	East Midlands
UK Parliament	High Peak

Eyam (Template:Pron-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 1665. 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 16 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

Eyam can boast various plague related places of interest such as the 'boundary stone', 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' that is used as a village hall meeting rooms. The Mechanics' Institute was established in Eyam in 1824 according to "White's History, Gazetteer & Directory of the County of Derby, for 1857", with a Library paid for by subscription, which then contained 766 volumes. There were 30 members recorded in 1857, paying the equivalent of 1 p per week. 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'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 is still being tested.

Saxon cross

7th century Anglo-Saxon cross.

Eyam churchyard contains a Saxon cross dated to the 7th or 8th centuries. Initially, it was located at the side of a cart track near to 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.

Notable residents

• Anna Seward, acclaimed poet (1747 — 1809)
• Richard Furness, the Poet of Eyam (1791 — 1857)

Treatments in the media

• Year of Wonders (Novel, 2001) by Geraldine Brooks.
• A parcel of patterns (Novel, 1983) by Jill Paton Walsh.
• The Roses of Eyam (Play, first performed 1970, published 1976) by Don Taylor.
• The Judas Strain (Novel, 2007) by James Rollins
• The song 'We All Fall Down' was written about the 1665 plague epidemic in Eyam by Leeds-based band iLiKETRAiNS, and is featured on their 2007 album Elegies to Lessons Learnt.
• Children of Winter (Novel, 1985) by Berlie Doherty.
• Kiss of Death (Novel, 2006) by Malcolm Rose Published by Usborne Publishing

See also

• Derby plague of 1665, Great Plague of London (also in 1665)
• Beau, writer of the song "The Roses Of Eyam"

External links

• Eyam Plague Village website
• Eyam at derbyshireuk.net
• Eyam at Survivors: Mad Dog