16. PROSPERITY, BUT A BUBONIC PLAGUE EPIDEMIC RETURNS

Thomas Wren became Rector of Willingham from 1660 following the restoration to the monarchy of King Charles ll. Wren was the first of a series of absentee Rectors at Willingham. The presence of three transient Curates at Willingham during this period, Robert King, Rowland Manlove and Anthony Listar, suggests that he left most of the work in the parish to them.

This ‘Restoration’ period, as it became known, was one of economic recovery in the country as a whole.  Village life seems to have been relatively calm and peaceful at this time. In Willingham this was reflected in slow but steady agricultural development. The village population was now around 450, and many individual pastures now commonly supported herds of 9 to 12 cattle, and flocks of sheep 50 strong. Most families kept a few pigs, some bred horses, and cheese was widely produced, with some farmers producing up to 150 lbs (68kg) of cheese for market. Arable holdings were divided into three equal areas, operating under a rotation system with one fallow at any one time. Barley accounted for almost half the sown acreage; the balance was mainly under wheat and peas. Domestic orchards were commonly recorded, but larger scale commercial orchards did not develop in Willingham until the early 18^th century.
The earliest recorded ale-houses in the village date from this period. The George (in George Street) was recorded in 1665, and The Five Bells (at The Green) in 1669.

In 1665 and 1666 England was revisited by bubonic plague. Like the Black Death of 1348, the disease appears to have originated in Asia and arrived in London via the Middle East and Europe. As in 1348 it was spread by fleas on black rats and in the large tightly packed cities with no sewage systems, rats bred prolifically. It arrived in London in February 1665 and by August 100,000 had died in London, 20% of the city’s population. King Charles, his court and Parliament moved to Oxford for 6 months. Cambridge University closed in August 1665 and did not reopen until September 1666. Scholars were encouraged to escape to the rural areas. Isaac Newton was one of those who fled from Trinity College to Woolsthorpe Manor, (north of Stamford), where he continued his groundbreaking research in the fields of light, gravity and calculus during this closure. Unlike the Black Death of 1348, the severity of this epidemic in London was not reflected to the same extent in other English cities. East Anglia and SE England were more affected than the north and west; Norwich and Colchester recorded losses of 20% of their populations. Rural areas were much less affected. I can find no evidence to suggest that Willingham was unduly affected, but the severity of the disease in Cambridge must have badly affected markets and trade in general.

• Epicentre: London
• Origin: Asia
• Start: February 1665
• Peak: September 1665
• Total duration: 18 months
• London deaths: 150,000 (25% of London population)
• Maximum deaths in peak month: 7,200

London was only just starting to recover from the devastating effects of the epidemic in 1666, when the Great Fire of London swept through the city in September of that year.  No less than 85% of London’s population were left homeless; 85 churches and the original St. Paul’s Cathedral were destroyed. One of the few consolations of the fire to the thousands made homeless was that the subsequent rebuilding of the city incorporated measures to avoid a repeat of the worst of the street squalor that had contributed to the epidemic.

Next time:    A Rector of Influence – but Outside Willingham