EYAM BALLAD
[Carol Evans (1986)]

The great plague came to Derbyshire
dressed in the finest cloth.
He who stitched and sweated
was first man marked for death.
Marked with a ring of roses;
marked for the greedy earth.

CHORUS
No chants or incantations,
no herbs to charm the sores,
no tincture, balm or ointment;
for plague there is no cure.

The Bradshaw family from the hall
fled in the early light.
Linen, silver, servant, dog,
abandoned in the flight.
Then Mompesson assembled all
to tell them of their plight.

No chants or incantations…
On that first week in September
in sixteen sixty-five
three hundred honest Christians
prayed to stay alive.
Of those who prayed in fear of plague
less than eighty would survive.
No chants or incantations…

From pulpit in every parish
the word was quickly spread:
“Stay away from Eyam!
They are already counting dead.
Ten miners and the carpenter
have caught the infected seed.”
No chants or incantations…

Giant stones were placed at boundaries,
at Cliffe and Cucklet Delp,
at Gebe mine and at Humphries barn,
and there the coins were left.
Coins steeped in bitter vinegar
to pay the price of bread.
No charms or incantations…

By Christmas time no children
Played in the yard at school.
Ten pupils and the teacher gone;
how could He be so cruel,
to steal the heart out of the village,
to watch infection rule?
No charms or incantations…

When mother Hancock saw the mark
on the neck of her small son,
she told Johas (Jonas?) to dig seven graves.
She knew no help would come
to bless them with a remedy,
before they died alone.
No chants or incantations…

No marriage vows in spring that year,
no loved ones left to cherish.
No seed was sown, no crop was grown,
just one pride left to nourish:
“No matter what, we must not spread
this curse outside the village.”
No chants or incantations…

And so the Eyam legend grew.
Read on the parish page
the names of all those people
who kept their vow and stayed.
The village died, but Derbyshire
was never touched by plague.
No chants or incantations…

Be still and quiet in Cucklet Delp
and watch the drifting skies.
Perhaps you will catch the singing,
an echo still survives.
In our imagination
we can live their unfinished lives.
No chants or incantations…

(lyrics by Carol Evans, melody by Mike Lydiat):

The Eyam Ballad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8p2B3H0lqI

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http://www.barlow-church.org.uk/acrobat/202103ParishMagazine.pdf