Inside Eyam, a 17th-century English village that became one of the most remarkable cases of self-quarantine in history

Plague Window Eyam Village

When plague-ridden fleas brought the bubonic plague to the small town of Eyam in England, its residents decided to quarantine themselves instead of fleeing to nearby cities, where they could have worsened the epidemic.
The fleas had spread from London, which was experiencing the last major outbreak of plague between 1665 and 1666, an epidemic that killed almost 25% of the city's population.
Eyam's residents' decision eliminated the possibility of community spread to other nearby cities, which could have had major outbreaks like the one in London.
Their decision to remain in self-imposed isolation increased transmission within the village. Ultimately, a third of Eyam's estimated population of 750 perished during the epidemic.
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In 1666, William Mompesson, the rector of Eyam village, gathered its 750 residents to lay out a plan for containing an outbreak of the bubonic plague. They arrived at the decision to voluntarily quarantine, with no one leaving or entering until plague cases ceased.

Source: BBC, The Guardian, The Washington Post

Within 14 months, over a third of Eyam's population succumbed to the horror of the plague that had been inadvertently brought to the village from London.

Source: BBC, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Francine Clifford (Eyam Historian)

From 1665 to 1666, the last major outbreak of the bubonic plague ravaged London, killing about 25% of the city's population. Earlier outbreaks of plague, also known as Black Death, were responsible for killing an estimated 25 million people in Europe in the 14th century.

Source: CDC, BBC, Encyclopedia Britannica, National Geographic

Though the 1665 epidemic was mainly confined to London and Cambridge, an outbreak occurred in Eyam, which was more than 150 miles away.

Source: Encyclopedia Britannica, Francine Clifford (Eyam Historian)

It was later discovered that Eyam's tailor had ordered a bale of cloth from London, which happened to be carrying plague-ridden fleas. The bacteria that cause plague exist in a long-term cycle between certain rodent species and fleas but can be transmitted to humans in numerous ways, most commonly through flea bites.

Source: CDC, BBC, World Health Organization

George Viccars, the tailor's assistant, was the first person in Eyam to be exposed and killed by this resurgence of plague. He died on September 7, 1665.

Source: BBC

Over the next two months, about 40 more people died, but infections significantly dropped off by May of 1666, and most residents presumed the epidemic to be over.

Source: BBC, The Washington Post, Francine Clifford (Eyam Historian)

The plague mutated, however, and became pneumonic by the summer of 1666. This meant that instead of fleas having to bite humans to transmit the disease, humans could now transmit it to one another directly.

Source:Francine Clifford (Eyam Historian), The Washington Post

The mutated form of plague caused a tremendous surge in deaths, and many of Eyam's residents considered fleeing.

Source:Francine Clifford (Eyam Historian), BBC

The newly appointed rector Mompesson realized that Eyam's fleeing villagers could create outbreaks in neighboring cities of Sheffield and Manchester.

Source: The Washington Post, BBC

Mompesson thought the rightful course of action was to self-quarantine the town. He believed that they could prevent further transmission to surrounding areas by restricting anyone from entering or leaving Eyam.

Source: BBC, Francine Clifford (Eyam Historian)

Mompesson, who wasn't entirely trusted by the locals yet, reached out to the former rector, Thomas Stanley, to help him persuade the villagers not to flee. Together, on June 24, 1666, the two convinced the people of Eyam to voluntarily quarantine themselves, facing a greater chance of death but ensuring their neighbors' protection.

Source: BBC, The Washington Post, Francine Clifford (Eyam Historian)

Francine Clifford, a local historian in Eyam, believes that Mompesson and Stanley appear to have been appealing to the community's religious values, convincing them that, according to Christian teachings, the town had a moral duty to do something good for humankind.

Source: Francine Clifford (Eyam Historian)

The village placed rocks in a 1-mile circle around Eyam to create their isolation zone. Over the next few months, no one entered or left the town.

Source: BBC, The Washington Post

Nearby villages would leave food and supplies by the cordon rocks in return for coins that were soaked in vinegar, a practice the townspeople believed would prevent the plague from spreading.

Source: BBC, The History and Antiquities of Eyam, The Washington Post

In 1665, Eyam had between 750 and 800 residents. By the time the plague had taken its toll, 260 of them had died, representing over a third of the total population.

Source: The Royal Society, BBC, Eyam Plague Village, Francine Clifford (Eyam Historian)

William Mompesson kept careful parish registers and accounts of every plague victim during this period. The records show entire families dying rapidly, in one case within a week. During August 1666, at its peak, five to six people were dying a day in Eyam.

Source: BBC, The Guardian, Eyam Plague Village, Atlas Obscura

In a letter dated November 20, 1666, Mompesson wrote about what life in the village had been like, commenting "my ears never heard such doleful lamentations — my nose never smelled such horrid smells, and my eyes never beheld such ghastly spectacles."

Source: The History and Antiquities of Eyam

Infections tapered out, however, just over a year after the plague first infected Eyam. Mompesson wrote that the last infection to occur was on October 17, 1666.

Source: Francine Clifford (Eyam Historian), BBC

Clifford attributes a combination of colder weather and the plague's natural life cycle as reasons for it dying out. She notes that outbreaks of plague in England almost always lasted about a year.