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It has been generally believed that the plague carried off its first victims very quickly; such, however, is a mistake, for Edward Cooper, the second who died, was buried September the twenty-second, an interval from the interment of George Vicars of fifteen days.
SEPTEMBER 1665
(Names of those who died and dates of their burial.)
George Vicars Sept. 7th.
Edward Cooper Sept. 22nd.
Peter Halksworth Sept. 23rd.
Thomas Thorpe Sept. 26th.
Sarah Sydall Sept. 30th.
Mary Thorpe Sept. 30th.
OCTOBER commenced with two deaths, and on the third two more, and to the end of the month, sometimes one and two in a day; and it was at this juncture that the terrified villagers ascertained the fatal disease to be the plague. Then!
"Out it burst, a dreadful cry of death;
The Plague! The Plague! The withering language flew."
OCTOBER 1665
(Names of those who died, and the respective dates of their interment.)
Matthew Bands Oct. 1st.
Elizabeth Thorpr Oct. 1st.
Margaret Bands Oct. 3rd.
Mary Thorpe Oct. 3rd.
Sythe Torre Oct. 6th.
William Thorpe Oct. 7th.
Richard Sydall Oct. 11th.
William Torre Oct. 13th.
Alice Torre(his wife) Oct. 13th.
John Sydall Oct. 14th.
Ellen Sydall Oct. 15th.
Humphrey Hawksworth Oct. 17th.
Martha Bands Oct. 17th.
Jonathan Ragge Oct. 18th.
Humphrey Torre Oct. 19th.
Thomas Thorpe Oct. 19th.
Mary Bands Oct. 20th.
Elizabeth Sydall Oct. 22nd.
Alice Ragge Oct. 23rd.
Alice Sydall Oct. 24th.
George Ragge Oct. 26th.
Jonathan Cooper Oct. 28th.
Humphrey Torre Oct. 30th.
In NOVEMBER, the pest visited five fresh families, and the distress of the inhabitants began to assume an aggravated form and aspect; few would visit the families infected; they were avoided in the street; they were glanced at with fearful apprehension; and their consequent privations cannot be described.
NOVEMBER 1665
(Mortality, names, and dates of burial.)
Hugh Stubbs Nov. 1st.
Alice Teylor Nov. 3rd.
Hannah Rowland Nov. 5th.
John Stubbs Nov. 15th.
Ann Stubbs (his wife) Nov. 19th.
Elizabeth Warrington Nov. 29th.
Randoll Daniel Nov. 30th.
DECEMBER witnessed the still wide-spreading disease; fresh habitations poured forth lamentations.
DECEMBER 1665
(Names of victims and dates of their burial.)
Mary Rowland Dec. 1st.
Richard Coyle Dec. 2nd.
John Rowbottom Dec. 9th.
---- Rowe (an infant) Dec. 14th.
Mary Rowe Dec. 15th.
William Rowe Dec. 19th.
Thomas Willson Dec. 22nd.
William Rowbotham Dec. 24th.
Anthony Blackwell Dec. 24th.
Some idea may be formed of the extreme virulence of the plague at Eyam, even at its commencement, by observing that even in large cities the plague has been known to cease in winter. In the first summer of the great plague at Genoa, 10,000 died, in the winter scarcely any; but in the following summer, 60,000. The great plague in London appeared in the latter end of 1664, but was checked by winter until the ensuing spring; while at Eyam, where the effects of winter would be considerably greater than in cities, the plague continued its ravages without ceasing. Still it did not attain the height of its destruction and malignancy until the summer of 1666.
During the last four months the sufferings of the villagers were truly dreadful; and though they had become familiar with death, yet they were doomed, in the following summer, to behold the pest assume a far more deadly and fatal aspect. Though the survivors had seen, in the above time, forty-five of their relatives and friends snatched from among them by the terrific hand of pestilential death, yet some few of them were destined to see near double that number swept away in the short space of one month. Fated beings! Shall not "The bard preserve your names and send them down to future times?"-OSSIAN.
JANUARY exhibited, to the great joy of the villagers, some slight apparent abatement of the malignant disease.
JANUARY 1665-6
(Names of victims and dates of their interment.)
Robert Rowbottom Jan. 1st.
Samuel Rowbottom Jan. 1st.
Abell Rowland Jan. 15th.
John Thornley Jan. 28th.
Isaac Willson Jan. 28th.
* A headstone to the memory of Abell Rowland stands near the Chancel door of the Church.
FEBRUARY cast a saddening gloom around the hearts of the now terror-stricken inhabitants, the number of deaths increased, and their cup of hope was now dashed to the ground.
FEBRUARY 1665-6
(Mortality, names and dates of burial.)
Peter Mortin, Bretton Feb. 4th.
Thomas Rowland Feb. 13th.
John Willson Feb. 15th.
Deborah Willson Feb. 17th.
Alice Willson Feb. 18th.
Adam Hawksworth Feb. 18th.
Anthony Blackwell Feb. 21st.
Elizabeth Abell Feb. 27th.
It may be necessary, in this place, to notice some few particulars respecting the two unrivalled characters, who may be justly said to have been by their joint exertions, the principal instruments by which Derbyshire and the neighbouring counties were delivered from the desolating plague - The Rev. Thomas Stanley and the Rev. William Mompesson.
It will be manifest that at the time of the greatest fury of the plague, the salvation of the surrounding country originated in the wisdom of these two worthy divines.
Their magnanimous conduct on this awful occasion can only be exceeded by the obedience of the sufferers over whom they exercised such heavenly influence.
* A stone has now been erected in Eyam Churchyard to the memory of the Rev. Thomas Stanley This was done at the insistence of the Rev. H.J. Longsdon, late Rector.
The Rev. Thomas Stanley was born at Duckmanton, near Chesterfield. His public ministry was exercised at Handsworth, Dore, and eight years at Ashford, whence, by those in power, he was translated in 1644, to the Rectory of Eyam, where he continued to reside, respected and esteemed until Bartholomew-day 1662. He continued to preach, however, in private houses at Eyam, Hazleford, and other places, until his death in 1670. This very worthy man was succeeded by his predecessor, the Rev. Shoreland Adams, who died in 1644.
* The Rev. Shoreland Adams was suspended as Rector of Eyam in 1644; he regained his living in 1662.
The successor of this litigious divine was the Rev. William Mompesson, chaplain to Sir George Saville. Before his coming to Eyam in April 1664, he had married a beautiful young lady, Catherine, the daughter of Ralph Carr, Esq., of Cocken in the County of Durham. She was young, and possessed good parts, with exquisitely tender feelings. These two illustrious characters (Stanley and Mompesson) throughout the fury of the pestilence, as we shall see hereafter, forsook not their flocks, but visited, counselled, and exhorted them in their sufferings; alleviated their miseries; and held fast to their duties, on the very threshold of death.
MARCH commenced, and the pestilence still alarmingly prevailed in various parts of the village, although the number of deaths did not reach that of the preceding month.
MARCH 1665-6
(Names of persons who died - no dates of burials given in the register.)
Jon. Thos. Wilson Mar.
John Talbot Mar.
John Wood Mar.
Mary Buxton, Foolow, Mar.
Ann Blackwell Mar.
Alice Halksworth Mar.
APRIL, with its increasing number of victims, threw a deep and sorrowful gloom over the heart-sickened villagers.
APRIL 1666
(Names of victims and dates of interment.)
Thomas Allen April 6th.
Joan Blackwell April 6th.
Alice Thorpe April 15th.
Edward Bainsley April 16th.
Margaret Blackwell April 16th.
Samuel Hadfield April 18th.
Margaret Gregory April 21st.
----- Allen (an infant) April 28th.
Emmot Sydal April 30th.
MAY brought forth a cheering relaxation in the chilly touch of this insatiable messenger of death.
MAY 1666
(Persons who died, and dates of their burial.)
Robert Thorpe May 2nd.
William Thorpe May 2nd.
James Taylor May 11th.
Ellen Charlesworth May 24th.
JUNE awoke the deadly monster from his seeming slumber in the preceding month, and with desolating steps he stalked forth from house to house, breathing on the trembling inhabitants the vapour of death. The irresistible rage of the pest filled the hearts of all with dreadful forebodings: despair seized every soul; loud and bitter lamentations burst forth from every infected house! Fear and apprehension prevented ingress to these abodes of distress. Horror and dismay enveloped the village; and many persons were led to practise numerous weak and absurd expedients to prevent infection. Numberless were the imagined omens and presages which the terrified inhabitants could now call to mind of their dreadful calamities. Some said that the desolation of the village had been at various times prognosticated. Many could recollect having seen the white cricket, and heard it sound the death-knell on their hearths. Others remembered having heard for three successive nights the invisible "death-watch" in the dead of night. And some called to mind how often, during a few preceding winters, they had listened to the doleful howlings of the Gabriel-hounds.
* Gabriel-hounds are believed to be the spirits of unbaptized infants which are destined to hover about in the air, and by a faint dog-like howling announce the death of individuals of their respective families.
These, with numerous other fanciful tokens of death, the simple and horrified villagers imagined, at this awful time, they had seen and heard. Would it, indeed, have been marvellous, had they fancied they had seen, with Ossian's Melilcoma, "the awful faces of other times looking from the clouds?"
As June advanced, the pestilence spread from house to house with dreadful rapidity:
"Health, strength, and infancy, and age,
In vain the ruthless foe engage."- HOLLAND
The unexampled mortality of the plague during the summer of 1666, is, as stated before, unequalled in history. Some have supposed that this destructive scourge was aggravated to its unparalleled fury at Eyam by the ignorance and destitution of the inhabitants, and their consequent maltreatment of the distemper. But the proximate cause of this unheard of mortality was undoubtedly the courageous determination of the villagers to confine themselves within a certain boundary; for if those who fell a sacrifice in July, August, September and October, had fled in the spring, they would most probably have escaped; but then there was this danger - the infected would have fled with the non-infected and thereby have carried desolation wherever they went. Hence may be traced the principal and evident cause of that dreadful mortality among the meritorious villagers of Eyam.
Up to the beginning of June seventy-seven had perished from the commencement of the pest; this number of deaths, from a population of three hundred and fifty, was very great in so short a time; but how incomparable to the dreadful havoc of the ensuing months of June, July, August, September and October! It was,however, about the middle of June that the plague began to assume so terrible an aspect. Terror overwhelmed the hearts of the villagers. Mrs. Mompesson threw herself and two children, George and Elizabeth (said to have been about three and four years old ) at the feet of her husband, imploring their immediate departure from the devoted place! Her entreaties and tears sensibly moved the feelings of her husband, whose eyes were suffused with tears at this energetic and truly pathetic appeal. He raised her from his feet, and in the most affectionate manner told her that his duty to his suffering and diminishing flock- that the indelible stain that would rest on his memory by deserting them in the hour of danger - and that the awful responsibility to his Maker for the charge he had undertaken, were considerations with him of more weight and importance than life itself! He then again, in the most persuasive manner, endeavoured to prevail on his weeping partner to take their two lovely children, and flee to some place of refuge till the plague was stayed. She, however, steadfastly resisted his entreaties and emphatically declared her determination that nothing should induce her to leave him amidst that destructive and terrible whirlpool of death! This affecting contest ended in their mutual consent to send all the children away to a relative in Yorkshire (supposed to be J. Bielby, Esq.), until the pestilence ceased. Imagination may paint the mournful parting of the children and parents on this occasion. Mompesson would call them aside, and, suppressing the bitterness of his feelings, give them a parting kiss, and fervently admonish them to be obedient and good! Their tender and loving mother would clasp each in her arms, and, in the intervals of heart-bursting sighs, kiss them again and again! When they departed she would haste to the highest window of their dwelling and watch them leave the village. As she caught the last glance of them, a sudden and startling thought would cross her mind that she would behold them no more. She might utter a shrill and piercing scream! Mompesson would be by her side and endeavour to console her in the most soothing language imaginable! In the first paroxysm of her grief she would intently gaze towards the spot where they last met her view, and refuse to be removed from the place, until the streaming tears "Rush from her clouded brain, Like mountain mists at length dissolved to rain."- BYRON
Alas! Alas! her forebodings were realised: in this world she beheld her children no more: she took the infection, and died, as will be hereafter seen, blessing her children with her last parting breath.
It was at this period of the calamity, that the inhabitants began to think of escaping from death by flight. Indeed, the most wealthy of them, who were but few in number, fled early in the spring with the greatest precipitation. Some few others, having means, fled to the neighbouring hills and dells, and there erected huts, where they remained until the approach of winter. But it was the visible manifestation of a determination in the whole mass to flee, that aroused Mompesson: he energetically remonstrated with them on the danger of flight; he told them of fearful consequences that would ensue; that the safety of the surrounding country was in their hands; that it was impossible for them to escape death by flight; that many of them were infected; that the invisible seeds of the disease lay concealed in their clothing and other articles which they were preparing to take with them; and that, if they would relinquish their fatal and terrible purpose, he would write to all the influential persons in the vicinity for aid; he would, by every possible means in his power, endeavour to alleviate their sufferings; and he would remain with them, and sacrifice his life rather than be instrumental in desolating the surrounding country. Thus spoke this wonderful man!
The inhabitants, with a superhuman courage, gave up all thoughts of flight. Mompesson immediately wrote to the Earl of Devonshire, then at Chatsworth, a few miles from Eyam, stating the particulars of the calamity, and adding that he was certain that he could prevail on his suffering and hourly diminishing flock to confine themselves within the precincts of the village, if they could be supplied with victuals and other necessary articles, and thereby prevent the pestilence from spreading. The noble Earl expressed in his answer deep commiseration for the sufferers; and he further assured Mompesson that nothing should be spared on his part to mitigate the calamitous sufferings of the inhabitants- provided they kept themselves within a specified bound. This worthy nobleman generously ordered the sufferers to be supplied with all kinds of necessaries, agreeably to the following plan:-
A kind of circle was drawn round the village, marked by particular and well-known stones and hills; beyond which it was solemnly agreed that no one of the villagers should proceed, whether infected or not. This circle extended about half-a-mile around the village; and to two or three places or points on this boundary provisions were brought. A well, or rivulet, northward of Eyam, called to this day "Mompesson's Well," or "Mompesson's Brook," was one of the places where articles were deposited. These articles were brought very early in the morning, by persons from the adjoining villages, who, when they had delivered them beside the well, fled with the precipitation of panic. Individuals appointed by Mompesson and Stanley fetched the articles left; and when they took money it was placed in the well or certain stone troughs to be purified, thus preventing contagion by passing from hand to hand. The persons who brought the articles were careful to wash the money well before they took it away. When money was sent, it was only for some extra or particular articles: the provisions and many other necessaries were supplied, it is supposed, by the Earl of Devonshire. The Cliffe, between Stoney Middleton and Eyam , was another place on the circle appointed for this purpose. A large stone trough stood there, in which money and other things were deposited for purification. There are other places pointed out, but these were the principal.
* An ancestor of Abraham and William Cooper, farmers now residing in Eyam, brought bread to Eyam from Hazleford, during the plague. It was left on a certain stone on the top of "Wet Withins," on Eyam Moor. Another person from the neighbourhood of Little Common, a few miles west of Sheffield, brought articles of food (bread principally) on this calamitous occasion.
It is said that no-one ever crossed this cordon sanitaire from within or without, during the awful calamity: this, however, is not precisely correct. One person, as will be hereafter seen, crossed it from without at the almost sacrifice of life; and, in a subsequent part, some interesting particulars will be given of one or two who crossed it from within. It must be admitted that it was to the prescribing of this boundary, and other precautions attendant thereon, that the country around was saved from the pestilence. The wisdom of Mompesson, who is said to have originated the plan, can only be surpassed in degree by the courage of the inhabitants in not trespassing beyond the bounds marked out, whom as Miss Seward justly observes, "a cordon of soldiers could not have prevented against their will, much less could any watch which might have been set by the neighbourhood have effected that important purpose". The annals of mankind afford no instance of such magnanimous conduct in a joint number of persons; and ages pass away without being honoured by such an immortal character as Mompesson, who, while the black sword of pestilence was dealing death around him, voluntarily "put his life in his hand," from an exalted sense of duty, for the salvation of the country.Towards the middle and latter end of June, the plague began to rage more fearfully. Nothing but lamentations were heard in the village. The passing-bell ceased, the Churchyard was no longer resorted to for interment, and the Church door closed.
"Contagion closed the portal of the fane:
He then a temple sought, not made with hands,
But reared by Him, amidst whose works it stood,
Rudely magnificent."- ROBERTS
At this period, Mompesson, deeming it dangerous to assemble in the Church during the hot weather, proposed to meet his daily diminishing flock in the Delf, a secluded dingle, a little south of Eyam, and there read prayers twice a week, and deliver his customary sermons on the Sabbath, from a perforated arch in an ivy-mantled rock.
The ghastly hearers seated themselves at some distance from each other, on the grassy slope opposite the rocky pulpit. Thither they repaired one by one on these awful occasions, leaving at their mournful homes, some a father, some a mother, some a brother, and some a child, struggling with death. They glanced at each other with looks of unetterable woe, asking in silence "whom Fate would next demand." Mompesson, standing on the verge of the arch, lifted up his voice to heaven and called aloud on the God of mercy to stay the deadly pest, while the fervent responses of the shuddering hearers dolefully echoed from the caverns around. Thus they assembled in the sacred dell, while each succeeding Sabbath told the tale of death. "Do you see," says Miss Seward, "this dauntless minister of God stretching forth his hand from the rock, instructing and consoling his distressed flock in that little wilderness? How solemn, how affecting, must have been the pious exhortations of these terrible hours!" Rhodes observes, "That Paul preaching at Athens, or John the Baptist in the wilderness, scarcely excites a more powerful and solemn interest than this minister of God, this "legate of the skies," when contemplated on this trying occasion, 'when he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stayed. " This romantic arch has, from that terrible time, been invariably designated "Cucklett Church."
* Cucklett or Cuckletts is the name of certain fields or plots of land west of the rock or arch where Mompesson preached; the name is said to be a corruption of the words Cook's Lot - that is, land that once belonged to a family named Cook.
How insensible to the awfulness of that horrible season must he be who can tread this hallowed dell and not hear
"Amidst the rocks an awful sound
In deep reverberation sigh,
And all the echoing caverns round,
With mournful voices far reply,
As if, in those sepulchral caves,
The dead were speaking from their graves."- BRETTELL
During June, and more especially the three following months, the terrific suffering of the inhabitants almost defy description. Parents beheld their children fall in direful succession by the hand of the insatiable and purple-visaged pest. Children turned aside with fearful dread at the distorted features of their parents in death. Every family, while any survived, buried its own dead; and one hapless woman, in the space of a few days, as we shall afterwards see, dug the graves for, and buried with her own hands, her husband and six children. Appalling as such a circumstance must be, it is, however, only one out of very many of that eventful time.
It was during the latter part of June, or the beginning of July, that the Churchyard closed its gates against the dead. Funeral rites were no longer read; coffins and shrouds no longer thought of; an old door or chair was the bier on which the dead were borne; and a shallow grave or hole, hastily dug in the fields or gardens round the cottages, received each putrid corpse ere life was scarce extinct. This was more particularly the case in the two following months, July and August.
JUNE 1666
(Names of victims and dates of burial.)
Isaac Thornley June 2nd.
Anna Thornley June 12th.
Jonathan Thornley June 12th.
Anthony Skidmore June 12th.
Elizabeth Thornley June 15th.
James Mower June 15th.
Elizabeth Buxton June 15th.
Mary Heald June 16th.
Francis Thornley June 17th.
Mary Skidmore June 17th.
Sarah Lowe June 17th.
Mary Mellow June 18th.
Anna Townsend June 19th.
Abel Archdale June 20th.
Edward Thornley June 22nd.
Ann Skidmore June 25th.
Jane Townsend June 25th.
Emmot Heald June 26th.
John Swanne June 29th.
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