An extraordinary sighting of a comet over London in 1664 heralded a double disaster of the following two years: The Great Plague and the Great Fire. But it wasn’t just Londoners who suffered. The Peak District village of Eyam made an incredible sacrifice, dooming themselves to the pestilence to stop the disease spreading further, in a curiously progressive approach that became the forerunner to modern-day quarantines.

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Sources:

https://www.eyamvillage.org.uk/plague
https://www.eyam-museum.org.uk
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Why-Is-Eyam-Significant/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35064071
https://britishheritage.com/travel/derbyshire-village-of-eyam-the-town-that-stopped-the-plague https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/03/02/bubonic-plague-coronavirus-quarantine-eyam-england/
https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Nursery-Rhymes/ https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/great-plague#:~:text=In%201665%20a%20devastating%20epidemic,in%20London%20suddenly%20in%201665 https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/discover/three-myths-you-believe-about-great-fire-london http://smhccg.org/folklore-legends/lost-love-of-rowland-torre-and-emmott-sydall/

18 | Eyam Plague The Village of the Damned