With the recent worldwide spread of the frighteningCoronavirus--COVID-19--we're vividly reminded of theterrifying 17th-century Bubonic Plague. This is thestory of how brave villagers in a small English towntook it upon themselves to self-quarantine for 14months and save lives.As I stood by a charming, attached stone cottagein this peaceful village, the heart of England's PeakDistrict, watching a homeowner sweep her walkwayon this crisp, sunny day, I was stunned to readthe plaque in front. Once--355 years ago--thehappy Siddall family hadlived here. And, one by one,they had been struck downby the plague.First there was Richard,age 11, who died on Sept. 11,1665. He was followed,within weeks, by his sisterSarah, age 13, then his father,and three more sisters.Another sister died in Apriland, by October 17, 1666,when his mother died, thefamily was gone. Except foryoung Joseph, age 3, whosurvived.Few of us can imagine thehorror of an illness wipingout not only most of one’sfamily--but neighbors,friends, nearly an entiretown. Of the 350 villagers inEyam (pronounced “eem”),260 died this horrible death, including 58 children.Caused by a bacterial infection, the plague hitsits victims with swollen lymph nodes, fever, chills,headache, fatique, muscle aches. Symptoms can includea rosy, red rash--and black boils, from driedblood under the skin, caused by internal bleeding,appear in the armpits, neck and groin. The “BlackDeath,” as it is known, can be excruciatingly painfuland horrible for others to watch.What makes this bucolic, mountainous Derbyshirevillage (known as "The Plague Town ”) sounique is not only that the plague wiped out such ahigh number of residents in such a short time, butalso the way that its devastated townsfolk reactedto the deadly, infectious disease. They sacrificedthemselves so others could live: Courageously cordoningthemselves off from the outside world, theEyam villagers kept the evil event from spreadingfurther, and this was the last place it hit in England .The plague, which first surfaced around the late1320s in China, spread rapidly by fleas and rats viatrading ships. Eventually it hit Europe and, duringthe mid-1300s, killed some 25 million, one-third ofthe population. Later, between December 1664and the beginning of 1666,some 100,000 died in London,about one-fourth thepopulation.It was during this time,the summer of 1665, that aresident of London--150miles away--shippedAlexander Hadfield, anEyam tailor, some cloth.The package of old clothesand cloth patterns arrivedwet and the tailor’s assistant,George Viccars, wholived with the family, wastold to take the cloth outsideand spread it out todry--as well as dry it by thefireplace.Obviously no one realizedthat the damp cloth was alreadyinfected by fleas carryingthe curse of theplague. In just four days Viccars was dead, the firstvictim in Eyam to die of the plague, buried on Sept.7, 1665. A plaque in front of the home, "PlagueCottage," lists some of the household members whodied within days of each other. Only one, the tailor'swife, Mary, survived. She lost 13 relatives.Another plaque summarizes the horror of theHawksworth family, who lived nearby. The husband,Peter, was the third victim of the plague inthe village; his son Humphrey, 15 months, died justweeks later. And Peter's wife, Jane, was the solesurvivor of the household, eventually losing 25 relatives.192WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE 2020
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ConstantiaOne of Cape Town’s toni
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