black death

[vivienne59]

can anybody tell me which village in England was untouched by the plague in the 14th century.

[southerngirl]

I believe there were several villages in the heart of Derbyshire which came out untouched by the 14th Century Plague. However they did not fare so well during the Plague in the 17th century. Story goes that the latter plague was brought into the village of Eyam on a roll of cloth from a trader. Rather than spread the disease the villagers isolated themselves and 250 of the 327 villagers perished but the disease did not escape out of the village.

[Toureman]

There is a little road on the western side of Hampstead Heath in London which is called "The Vale of Health" it is said to be called this because no one living there died in the plague!

[rugeleyboy]

both answers are worth 3 stars in my eyes!!

very good!!

[Buenchico]

As SouthernGirl suggests, there were probably several isolated villages (both in Derbyshire and elsewhere) which escaped the Black Death. However, many of these will have gone unrecorded simply because, in an era with hardly any communications, any news (whether good or bad) from an isolated hamlet might well not reach the outside world. Even if it did, it was unlikely that it would have been written down for the benefit of future generations.

SouthernGirl quotes the well-known story about the sacrifice of the villagers of Eyam. This only serves to infuriate to people of Suffolk who know that exactly the same thing happened in this county but nobody else seems to know about it! :
http://www.norfolkcoast.co.uk/location_suffolk /vp_needhammarket.htm

Chris

[southerngirl]

Oh Chris,

Oops. As you say, I didn't know about Suffolk villages, but I do now. Didn't mean to infuriate anyone. Obviously Suffolk folk are just as altruistic as Derbyshire folk. I come from Southampton which was virtually obliterated during the Plague so my ancestors have a lot to answer for as it probably spread quite quickly from there!