Eyam (pronounced Eem), given the Saxon name Eaham, meaning a
well-watered hamlet, is a secluded Peak District village hemmed in by
green slopes and majestic hills. Within 1/4 mile, the busy world passes
by along the A623, yet every year thousands of people head directly to
this isolated rural community, tragically famous as the plague village
that self-isolated. The year 1665 saw outbreaks of bubonic plague in
London and many other cities, towns and villages across England. The
incomprehensible terror of the plague, caused by the bite of a rat flea
infected by the bacterium Pasteurella pestis, arrived in Eyam in
September 1665 and in order to contain the disease, the villagers chose
to lock themselves in isolation. This was an act of true altruism by
grief-stricken people in a village where every home became a morgue and
every resident a mourner. Some 350 years later, as we have encountered a
pandemic of gigantic proportions with the Covid-19 crisis, the story of
Eyam has inspired Simon Armitage, Poet Laureate, to devote half of his
poem 'Lockdown' to the suffering of these people. Secret Eyam: Plague
Village, illustrated throughout, expands upon these stories, taking a
closer examination of this area's important history.
