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Stanley
He had been sent to Eyam in April 1664 after the previous rector, Thomas Stanley, was removed. Stanley had refused to acknowledge the 1662 Act of Uniformity, which made it compulsory to use the Book of Common Prayer, introduced by Charles II, in religious services. Stanley, along with the majority of people in Eyam, had been supporters of Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan government, prior to the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. -
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The peak of the plague
The pestilence swept through the community. Between September and December 1665, 42 villagers died and by the spring of 1666, many were on the verge of fleeing their homes and livelihoods to save themselves. -
Arrival of the plague in Eyam
The story of the plague in Eyam began in September 1665, with the arrival of a bale of cloth sent from London, where the disease had already killed thousands of inhabitants. -
Eyam’s first plague victim
A tailor's assistant called George Viccars was said to have opened the bale and hung the cloth in front of the hearth to dry, unwittingly stirring the disease-ridden fleas contained within the parcel. He became the first of the plague's victims in the village. George Viccars was Eyam's first victim of the plague - he died in horrible agony on 7 September 1665 -
Eyam in quarantine
the newly appointed rector, William Mompesson, intervened. Believing it his duty to prevent the plague spreading to the nearby towns of Sheffield and Bakewell, he decided the village should be quarantined. However, as if persuading his parishioners to sacrifice their lives was not difficult enough, he had another problem - he was already deeply unpopular with the villagers. -
Return of the plague
After the plague returned in the summer of 1666 burials in St Lawrence's churchyard were stopped. Services were held in the open air at Cucklet Delf and families stood apart from each other to avoid the spread of infection -
Eyam in isolation
On 24 June 1666, Mompesson told his parishioners that the village must be enclosed, with no-one allowed in or out.Mompesson said if they agreed to stay - effectively choosing death - he would do everything in his power to alleviate their suffering and remain with them, telling them he was willing to sacrifice his own life rather than see nearby communities decimated. -
The Black Death
August 1666 saw the highest number of victims, reaching a peak of five or six deaths a day. The weather was remarkably hot that summer, which meant the fleas were more active, and the pestilence spread unchecked throughout the village. -
The last deaths from the bubonic plague in Eyam
On 1 November 1666 farm worker Abraham Morten gasped his final breath - the last of 260 people to die from bubonic plague in the remote Derbyshire village of Eyam.
