The Plague Village and Chatsworth - 2 of my favourite places!

Where it all began...

On Tuesday, September 28th, my students, my parents, Isaac, and Marylinn Thomlinson accompanied me to visit Eyam and Chatsworth House. This is one of my favourite places to visit and the story of the bubonic plague, otherwise known as black death, is at the top of my favourite British history stories. I know this sounds pretty crazy, but when you are a nurse, or even if you aren't, the story of the plague is an amazing one. Maybe by the end of this blog, you might agree with me :)

Black Death began to invade Europe and England in the middle 1300's and continued to spread throughout the 17th century. It was probably caused by a bacteria, Yersinia pestis, that was carried in the blood of black rats. The rats would become infested with fleas, the fleas would bite the rats, and then they would become carriers of the disease. When the rats died, the fleas would then bite people and spread the disease to those they bit. After a person would become infected with Black Death by a flea bite, the bacteria would eventually settle into the human's lungs, and the bubonic plague would then turn into the pnuemonic plague, which was incredibly contagious.

According to the historians, the spread of Black Death began in the countries around the Mediterranean Sea. As people and trade moved north and west, it spread throughout Europe. A boat from Europe sailed into England. The majority of the people on the boat had died of the plague during the journey, and the few that were still alive died shortly once the boat hit the shore. Before anyone knew what had happened, the rats and fleas from this boat invaded England, and Black Death spread throughout the land - especially in cities that were highly populated, like London. 

Cottages in Eyam  -they are darling!

The Black Death had an incredible impact on the socioeconomic and health status of the European and British populations during this time. It was incredibly deadly and wiped out 1/3 of the population in Britain and Europe in an incredibly short period of time. It was so powerful, in fact, that the outbreak in 1348 stopped the Hundred Years War for 7 years - too many people were sick, and there weren't enough healthy people to fight in the war as a result of the plague. Black Death continued to be a threat and there were frequent outbreaks of the plague after the initial outbreak in 1348.

The story of Eyam and the Black Death started in 1665. Eyam (I have heard it pronounced I-em and eem - you can say it either way) is a very small village in Derbyshire that was mined for lead by the Romans and was originally settled by the Anglo Saxons. However, Eyam's call to fame is its response to the Black Death in 1665. Here is how the story goes...

In the beginning of September, in 1665, a tailor named George Vicars who was originally from London but now lived in Eyam ordered fabric to make clothes. In those days, it was common for fabric to be sent in chests, and the fabric was often damp. Well, like all other fabric, when this shipment arrived, it was damp, so George took the fabric out and laid it in front of his fireplace to dry. What he didn't know is that the fabric was infested with infected fleas. The fleas jumped out of the fabric and bit him and his helper, and both died within several days of receiving the fabric. George's cottage, known as the plague cottage, still stands today - in fact, the first picture of this blog is a picture of his house. 

Isaac in the gate that leads to the church in Eyam

The plague spread rapidly from George to his neighbors. After the first several deaths, the people of the village turned to their 2 pastors, William Mompesson and Thomas Staley, for advice. Although these 2 gentlemen did not share common religious views, they wisely decided to unite in their recommendations to the villagers. They decided that the villagers should bury their own dead relatives in places other than the village's graveyard to prevent people from being exposed to the plague in town. They also decided that church services should be held outside and most importantly, they convinced everyone in the village to quarantine themselves. These 2 gentlemen had no idea if these interventions would work, but their goal was to stop the spread of the plague outside of their village. They made a deal with the Duke of Devonshire, who lived at Chatsworth House, to provide the villagers with food and supplies during the quarantine period. Somehow, these two pastors were able to convince almost everyone to stay in the village. Due to their efforts, the plague did not spread widely outside of this little village, and the villagers are credited for their heroic efforts to keep everyone else in their area safe. 

The Village Church

We started out our visit at the Plague Museum. The museum is really informative - there is lots to read, and you are not allowed to take photographs in the museum, so I will just try to describe it to you. The first thing we did was watched a video about the plague and the village. We then moved through the displays that explained how the plague spread through the village and shows an epidemiological chart of the people in the village who died at this time. The records from this time are not incredibly accurate, so there has been some debate over how many people lived and died from the plague during this time. Some estimate that out of 350 villagers, 83 survived and at least 260 died, while others estimate that out of 800 villagers, 430 survived. The bottom line is, no matter which estimates are most accurate, that the plague had an incredible impact on this little village. The museum also included some "folk remedies" for the plague - some of which involved using frogs and birds that had their tail feathers removed. You could tell from the potential cures that people were desperate for a cure. After going through the museum, we went on to the church. You cannot take pictures inside of the church, so what follows are some pictures of what we saw in the graveyard around the church. The Celtic cross below was originally at the side of a cart path in Eyam but was eventually moved to the graveyard at the church.

A Celtic Cross in the Church cemetery from the 8th Century AD

Catherine Mompesson's grave - she was the wife of the village's pastor and
died of the plague on 25 August 1666 - there is a yearly event at this grave site to remember the plague 

 Inside the church, there is a section of stained glass that tells the story of the 2 pastors and the Black Death. The original plague cottages are next door to the church - everything in this village is pretty close together, so you can imagine while you are in Eyam how the plague spread so quickly.  The signs and symptoms of the plague were pretty obvious. Usually the victim started with flea bites with large swellings called buboes. These bites were usually in the groin, in the armpits, or in the neck. The swellings were red at first but then became necrotic and turned either dark purple or black due to tissue death (hence the name Black Death), and the person usually died within 2-6 days after the initial symptoms were noticed. When the plague moved to the lungs, the victim began to experience respiratory symptoms such as coughing, sneezing, and difficulty breathing. If the plague invaded the victim's blood stream, it was called septicemic plague, and the person died within a day.

Skull and crossbones on a grave site - this type of death imagery emerged in art
during the time of the plague - it was a recognition that death will come to everyone

As I mentioned earlier, all the families had to bury their own dead. Legend has it that there was a gentleman named Marshall Howe who dug graves for people who could not bury their own. He frequently would take all the family's possessions for payment for digging the graves. Many times, the entire family was wiped out, so I guess he thought he was helping people out in their time of need. The strange thing is that he never contracted the plague even though he had been exposed to it over and over again. Another woman, Elizabeth Hancock, buried her 6 children and her husband in 8 days, but she never became sick herself.

The Lydgate Graves - George Darby and his daughter, Mary, died in 1666
George's wife survived the plague and died from other causes in 1674

The typical reaction to the plague was wide-spread panic and hysteria. People were convinced that God was out to get them and the art during this time became very dark. What is very interesting is that although many people died, there were others who were exposed to the plague that never came down with the plague, and there were some who got the plague but did not die from the disease. After completing DNA testing on direct descendants from the plague survivors, scientists have determined that those who did not die of the plague had a genetic mutation called Delta 32. The people who received this mutation from one parent probably contracted the plague but did not die from it, while those who received the mutation from both parents never got the plague at all. The cool thing now is that there is a hypothesized link between the people who survived the plague and people who have been exposed repeatedly to HIV but have never become HIV positive. 

 As I mentioned earlier, when the villagers decided to quarantine themselves, they made a deal with the Duke of Devonshire to provide supplies for them. People from Chatsworth House would bring supplies and leave them outside of the village boundary by a rock that is now called the Boundary Stone. The Boundary Stone has holes drilled into it that the villagers would fill with vinegar to clean the coins and prevent the people who brought the supplies from getting the plague. After checking out the church, we decided to walk out to the Boundary Stone. The following pictures will show you our adventure - it truly was a highlight of our trip to Eyam....

The beginning of our walk out to the Boundary Stone

Beautiful views along the way...

The road becomes a footpath that takes you through the fields

And on a lucky day, you will get to see horses and cows along the way

And then, finally, you get there...

The Boundary Stone at last! If you look closely, you can see the holes on top of the rock

The view is spectacular - even on a cold, foggy day!

And, after you check it all out, you have to go back to the village

Another one of my favourite cottages

In case you were wondering, people today are still at risk for catching Black Death. In fact, the bubonic plague is one of the diseases still tracked by the World Health Organization (WHO). The reason why it doesn't wipe out huge populations any more is that we are able to treat it better now. If a person catches the plague and is treated quickly, there is a pretty good chance of survival. However, if the plague is misdiagnosed or mistreated, it still will cause the person to die within 2-6 days. So remember to wash your hands frequently and stay away from rats and fleas :)

No trip to Eyam is complete without going on to Chatsworth House. Chatsworth is only about 7 miles from Eyam, and on a clear day, you can actually see Chatsworth from the hill of the Boundary Stone. In fact, if you continue on the public footpath, I believe you could end up in Chatsworth - after all, this is how the people from Chatsworth brought the supplies up to the village of Eyam.

Chatsworth House is an amazing place and is a stark contrast to the quaint village of Eyam. Check it out...

Chatsworth House's history goes back to about the time of Edward the Confessor. Edward the Confessor was one of the last Anglo Saxon kings of England - guess what year he died - you guessed right - he died in 1066 - it was quite a year! Well anyway, in the 15th century, the Leche family acquired the land that Chatsworth House now stands upon. In 1549, the Leche's sold the land to William Cavendish, the 1st Earl of Devonshire, and his wife, Bess of Hardwick. Bess began to build the house in 1553. Her husband died in 1557, but Bess finished the house in the 1560's and actually lived there with her 4th husband, George Talbot, the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury. An interesting thing about Earl is that he was granted the opportunity to watch over Mary Queen of Scots who lived in Chatsworth as a prisoner several times from 1570 on; her apartment is now known as the Queen of Scots Room - I am thinking that this was a pretty nice place to be if you had to be a prisoner!

Bess died in 1608, and her son, William Cavendish, ended up inheriting the house.The 4th Earl of Devonshire ended up becoming the 1st Duke of Devonshire, so he did what any other duke would do in those days - he embarked on a major remodeling project of his home. The remodel began in 1687 and is credited with being the beginning of English Baroque architecture. The house originally was built with ionic columns and it is incredibly symmetrical and massive. Vanbrugh, who built Blenheim Palace, also used English Baroque architecture - there are many similarities in size and shape between Chatsworth and Blenheim. 

My favourite picture at Chatsworth House

As happened with many of these huge family homes, the Cavendish's eventually experienced financial difficulties. These homes are so large, they are incredibly expensive to maintain. So many of the family's possessions and land were sold to keep the house afloat. In WWII, most of the large manor homes housed army troops (this happened at Harlaxton Manor). However, the 10th Duke of Devonshire decided that school girls would be better tenants than military men, so he invited a group of college girls from Wales to live at the manor to ensure their safety. 300 girls and their teachers lived at Chatsworth for 6 years during the war. What a cool place to attend college! The problem is that the house back then was not in as good of shape as it is today. The breath from the girls caused some of the paintings to mold and the house was in poor condition at the end of the war. After the girls moved out, the family sold more of their valuables and eventually established the Chatsworth House Trust in 1981. Currently, Peregrine Cavendish, the 12th Duke of Devonshire, and his wife live at Chatsworth. The house has 126 rooms, 100 of which are private. This allows the Duke and Duchess to live fairly private lives despite all the people who come to visit their home. The home has an awesome display of art and you can't help but notice its architecture. Here are just a few pictures of what we saw...

My favourite statue - I think it is called The Veiled Lady - the entire statue, including her veil is made out of marble

A beautiful chandelier - I think my sister-in-law, Leslie, would like this in her house :)

Snug, the Duchess's dog

I wouldn't mind wearing this tiara if I were the Duchess!

The State Dining Room

The gardens around the house cover 105 acres - this place is enormous! In the garden, there is a fountain called the Cascade. Each step in the Cascade is slightly different from the previous step, so no matter where you stand along the Cascade, you will hear different noises. Right now, there is a special display of sculpture in the gardens and there are a bunch of funny looking statues that are called "Terracotta Warriors" in the Cascades. 

Isaac, the terracotta warrior

Since the gardens are so huge, I cannot show them all to you - in fact, we weren't able to see them all and we spent just as much time in the gardens as we did in the house. Here are some of my favourite pictures...you really have to see it to believe it!

On the way to the grotto

In the maze made out of hedges - I felt like Harry Potter walking through it!

Butterflies - another wonderful piece - Greg can I take this one home with me?

St. Bartholomew

The Kitchen Garden

The Sensory Garden

This truly was a wonderful day. The best part was that I was able to spend it with good friends, my nursing students, and my family. Although the day was cold and gray, the beauty of the countryside, the art, and the gardens were still breath-taking. I can't imagine being in Eyam during the time of the plague. I am not sure how I would feel if I had lived there then. Would I have stayed as the pastors recommended, or would I have run away from home as fast as I could? Staying in the village was a most certain death sentence but if you left it, you would run the risk of infecting other families. I am not sure how I would have reacted in this situation. It would have been a terribly difficult decision to make and I am amazed how the majority of the villagers sacrificed their lives so their neighbours could live. The stark contrast between Chatsworth House and the village is also almost too vast to wrap your arms around. It is hard for me to imagine what it would have been like living in Chatsworth knowing that there were very poor people living in Eyam who were dying and losing their families every day. 

Chatsworth House is an amazing place. We are so fortunate that the Cavendish family decided to sell many of their valued possessions to return their home to the state it is in today. It is an awesome place to visit, and every time I am there, I see something new. If you would like to see parts of the house for yourself and you cannot go see it in person, I recommend that you watch the newest version of the movie, Pride and Prejudice. Much of the movie was filmed at Chatsworth and I promise you will see some of the same images you can see on my blog in the movie. Also, if you are as captivated by the plague as I am, I would recommend that you read a book called Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. She wrote a great historical novel that tells a pretty accurate story about the village of Eyam during the time of the plague. One thing is for sure - I am glad I went to the plague village, and I am even happier that I didn't get the plague while I was there! Being alive is a wonderful thing!