The world is not facing a pandemic/epidemic for the first time. In almost every century, there has been a disease that has claimed thousands of lives.?The 17th century Great Plague of London taught one section of the society the importance of isolation, and they have been doing that, since then.?
During the time of that plague, a village by the name of Eyam, isolated itself - they did not let people cross its boundaries.?
Between 1665-66, England suffered the devastation of the terrible plague. Ever since Coronavirus started wreaking havoc in the world, that period of plague has been used as comparison by many. One story about that plague involves the Eyam village.
In Eyam at one time, there was human habitation, there were festivals and fairs, but then suddenly the village was deserted to be never settled in again. The story of Eyam's desolation dates back 350 years. The village is in the Derbyshire Dales district, about three hours from London.
There are still less than?one thousand people living in the outer parts of this village, but the main part has been completely deserted since the plague. The plague wreaked havoc in 1665–66 in various parts of England, especially in London and the areas around it, for nearly 14 months. According to government records, 75,000 people lost their lives due to it.?
However, many historians claim that more than 1 lakh people had died. Well, the story is not of plague figures, but of courage. Because this village, prevented the spread of infection. If the people of Eyam village had not quarantined the entire village in time, then there would have been many more deaths.
When the plague was spreading in London, Eyam village was safe for some time. The reason was that people used to go out of their village very rarely. But Alexander Headfield, a tailor of a village unaware of the danger, reached London, from where he bought a cloth station. He did not know that the place he bought it from was infected with flea spreading the plague.
He then reached the village and work continued in his shop. But within a week, the assistant George Vickers, who opened the bundle, died. All the people whom he had met for a week, had become infected and slowly a chain was formed. The infection spread throughout the village.
From September to December 1665, about 42 villagers died. In early 1666 people planned to move out of the village, so that the survivors were safe. However, the village rector, William Mompesson, and the expelled former rector, Thomas Stanley, explained to the villagers that it was more dangerous to do so. Because there is an epidemic even outside the village.
Now, the only way was imprison themselves. That too in a way that the disease did not spread to the surrounding villages where the infection had not yet reached. After much persuasion, most of the villagers agreed to this decision and those who were not ready, moved out of the village.
None of them ever returned. On 24 June, 1666, all the roads in the village were closed to outsiders. At the behest of William Mompesson, a stone wall was built around the village which is still known as 'Mompesson's Wall'.?
A small hole was placed in this wall. From where the villagers used to throw out some coins and other people who wanted to help, used to deliver food and other things. Due to this, the epidemic did not go out of the village; women and children of the house lived in tunnels built beneath the houses, so that they could be kept alive.
The bodies of those who died of plague were buried in the forests far away from the village. In the process of cremation, the gathering of the villagers was banned. Nobody got out of houses. Churches were closed, meetings were held in the open ground, in which only the necessary people were involved.
Death continued in the village even after such tough rules. The most severe form of infection appeared in August 1666, when five to six deaths occurred within a day in the village. There was no house where there was no dead body. There is mention of a woman in history, whose name was Elizabeth Hancock, who within eight days saw her husband and six young innocent children die.?
Daily, Elizabeth would drag a corpse from her house, dig a grave and bury the body. Gradually, the number of infected people became so high, that most of the families of the village were destroyed.?
Mompesen has written in his diary that the era was terrible but the villagers had so much faith in their God that they did not panic. They did not run, they stayed, so that the rest of the world would be safe. After thousands of deaths, cases of infection started decreasing in September-October and then on November 1, the disease suddenly disappeared .?
But Eyam lost more than half of its families during this period. According to government document, 260 people from 76 families of the village died within a year. At that time, population of the village was less than 800. Even after the outbreak of the pandemic, the people of Eyam village had become adept at keeping themselves quarantined, or rather they were scared.
After many years, people started pulling themselves out and then gradually the main village became empty. Today Eyam has become a tourist destination. The isolation we have to observe today is way better and privileged than what Eyam had to do 350 years ago.?
Do not consider yourself a prisoner, believe that you are staying at home to keep the world safe.