The History and Antiquities of Eyam: With a Full and Particular Account of the Great Plague, Which Desolated That Village, 1666

by William Wood

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Genres: History

164 pages, Paperback

First published October 4, 2006

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Reviews

[Arianne Thompson]

This is a heck of a book, but not because of its subject. It might be possible to write a bad book about Eyam, the plague village that voluntarily quarantined itself while 75% of the population died, but if so, I haven't seen one yet.

Instead, what makes this book so unique is its author: William Wood published this in 1842, well before the advent of modern forensics or scholarship. In some ways, it seems almost childish now: there are no chapter breaks or index or any of the organization we now expect from nonfiction books, and the 19th-century frontiers of science and medicine are readily apparent (at one point, Wood discusses how plagues are caused by earthquakes.) In addition to telling the story of the plague, the author rambles on tremendously about things that most people today will not care a thing about: he includes some poems from a local poetess of Eyam, for example, and considerable description of the various mineral deposits in and around the village, and a great history of the various ancient druid-practices of the area, among other things.

However, his work is really admirable for the amount of time and effort he's sunk into this project. Writing almost 200 years after the fact, with no native connection to the village, he's gone to tremendous lengths to do exhaustive research by every means available to him - and with results of astonishing quality.

In reading this book, you are looking at the 17th century, through the lens of the 19th century, from the perspective of the 21st century - a rare picture-within-a-picture that reveals as much about the time of the writer as it does about the subject written, and makes me wonder how different we will be in yet another two hundred years. Highly recommended!

[Paul Lawrence]

This is an extraordinary book, a compelling account of Eyam, infected by plague late in 1665. Rather than flee, the reverend Mompesson persuaded all to stay, so not to infect the villages and towns around about. The villagers effectively agreed to quarantine themselves even though nearly three-quarters of the population eventually died. Mompesson himself had to bury his own family just a couple of months before the end of the epidemic. Wood brings all the main characters to life in his short history, and all their tragic tales. Perhaps the saddest, that of Elizabeth Hancock who lost her husband and six children within the space of a few days, and had to bury them all herself.