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| photo source indiatimes |
The story of a village that quarantined itself 350 years ago!
Quarantine …! This word is no longer new in our home dictionary. Quarantine means child to child. To imprison ourselves at home, to distance ourselves from society, to assuage ourselves… that is just quarantine. This is the only option to protect yourself during a corona infection. But the problem is that some people are getting fed up with this quarantine too.
Human beings are sociable beings. It is not possible without society. But still we are far from each other in the struggle to keep ourselves alive. Then no matter how lonely you feel, it is important. Now this need of today is very much disturbing, so you must know about an incident of 350 years ago.
Human beings are sociable beings. It is not possible without society. But still we are far from each other in the struggle to keep ourselves alive. Then no matter how lonely you feel, it is important. Now this need of today is very much disturbing, so you must know about an incident of 350 years ago.
The incident took place during the “Great Plague of London”. When the people of a village quarantined themselves to prevent the epidemic. That is, that village did not let death go out of its doors. So let us know the story of Ayam, a deserted village near London.
Between 1665-66, England suffered the devastation of the terrible plague. Ever since Corona started wreaking havoc in the world, that period of plague has been remembered many times. “Great Plague of London”, about which all kinds of stories have been told, but the most painful and learning story is that of Ayam village.
Ayam has become a tourist destination today. Just like our Kuldhara village in Rajasthan. Where at one time there was human habitation, there was happiness, there were festivals, fairs and then suddenly the village was so deserted that it could not be settled again. The story of Ayam’s desolation dates back 350 years. The village is in the Derbyshire Dales district, about 3 hours from London.
There are still less than 1 thousand people living in the outer parts of this village, but the main part is completely deserted since the plague epidemic. The plague wreaked havoc in 1665–66 in various parts of England, especially in London and the areas around it, for nearly 14 months. According to government records, 75,000 people lost their lives due to this epidemic.
However, many historians claim that more than 1 lakh people died in the death. Well, the story is not of plague figures, but of courage. Because this village, playing on its life, prevented the spread of this infection. If the people of Ayam village had not quarantined the entire village at that time, then there would have been so many deaths in the country that they could not be counted.
Learned to quarantine yourself
When the plague was spreading throughout London, Ayum village was safe for some time. The reason was that people used to go out of their village very rarely. But Alexander Headfield, a tailor of a village unaware of the danger, reached London, from where he bought a cloth station. He did not know that the place he bought was infected with the flea that spread the plague.
Than reached the village and work continued in his shop. But within a week, the assistant George Vickers died, who opened the bundle. All the people whom he had met for a week, had become infected and slowly a chain was formed. The infection spread throughout the village.
From September to December 1665, about 42 villagers died. In early 1666, people planned to move out of the village. So that the survivors are safe. However the village’s rector William Mompesson and the expelled former rector Thomas Stanley explained to the villagers that doing so is more dangerous. Because there is an outbreak of epidemic even outside the village.
Now there is only one way in front of them to imprison themselves. That too in such a way that this disease does not spread to the surrounding villages where the infection has not yet reached. However, it was not so easy to persuade the villagers for this sacrifice. After much persuasion, most of the villagers agreed to this decision and those who were not ready, moved out of the village.
However, none of them ever returned. Well on 24 June 1666 all the roads in the village were closed to outsiders. At the behest of William Mompesson, a stone wall was built around the village. Which is still known as “Mompesson’s Well”.
A small hole was placed in this wall. From where the villagers used to throw out some coins and other people who wanted to help, they used to deliver food and other things from this hole. Due to this, the epidemic did not go out of the village but it did not go out of the village either. People dug land inside their houses and prepared tunnels. The women and children of the house lived in this tunnel, so that they could be kept alive.
The bodies of those who died of plague were buried in the forests far away from the village. In the process of cremation, the gathering of the villagers was banned. Nobody used to get out of his house. Churches were closed, meetings were held in the open ground, in which only the necessary people were involved.
People die so others live
Despite such tough rules, the continuation of death in the village continued. Because the transition was within the village itself. The most severe form of infection appeared in August 1666. When 5 to 6 deaths occurred within a day in the village. There was no house where there was no dead body. There is mention of a woman in history. Whose name was Elizabeth Hancock.
Within 8 days this woman saw her husband and 6 young innocent children dying. The sorrow of that woman cannot be imagined. It is said that people were so scared that no one came forward to help him. Not even when she was digging the grave alone. People used to just stand on the hill of the village, Stony Middleton.
Elizabeth would daily drag a corpse from her house, dig a grave and bury them daily. Gradually, the number of infected became so high that most of the families of the village were destroyed. But they all gave courage to patience and did not let the disease spread to another village.
Mompesen has written in his diary that the era was terrible but the villagers had so much faith in their God that they did not panic. They did not run, stayed, so that the rest of the world would be safe. After thousands of deaths, cases of infection started decreasing in September-October and then on November 1, the disease suddenly disappeared.
But Ayam lost more than half of his family during this period. According to government documents, 260 people from 76 families of the village died within a year. Whereas at that time some of the population of the village was less than 800. Even after the outbreak of the epidemic was over, the people of Ayam village had become adept at keeping themselves quarantined, or rather they were scared.
After many years, people started pulling themselves out and then gradually the main village became empty. Today Aiyam has become a tourist destination. Where people feel the terrible outbreak of plague and painful stories. The quarantine that we are living today is a million records better than the quarantine that the people of Ayam village had enjoyed 350 years ago.
Therefore, do not consider yourself a prisoner, but believe that your stay at home will keep the world safe.