The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1903-07-16
PLAGUE STONES.
old Records Recall Fearful Days Of
London's Great Pestilence.

Even the bypaths of history sup
ply much suggestive matter, while
hidden away in church warden's and
other old accounts are many items
That remind US Of those days, says
Chambers Journal.
Here, for example, are two entries
fro mthc parish accounts Of St. Mary,
Woolnoth, London.
l5ac-A Item. for setting a crosse upon
one Aliens doors in the sick- 80.
nesss t sor :.tt,na Two red
i. ero.s es's upon Anthony Sound
his doro
The crosses were about q foot in
length. The $ served as a eau
ton against entering such houses.
In various parts of England the
plague stones are silent reminders OF
the time when cpidemics laid low so
many inhabitants both in town and
country.
IA stone in the Derby Arboretum
bear.the following inscription:
"Headless Gross or Market Stone
This stone formed a part of the
, ancient Cross at the upper end OF
Friar Gate and was used by. the IN
habitants Of Derby as a market place
during the visitation Of the plague,
1868. 1t is thus described by Hut
ton in his History Of Derby:
1'1665-Derby was again visited
/ by the plague at the same time in
which London fell under the severe
calamity. The town was forsaken;
the farmers declined the market
place; and grass grew upon that spot
which has furnished the supports Of
life.
"sTo prevent q famine, the inhab-
itants erected at, the top Of Nuns
Green, one or two hundred yards
from the buildings. now Friar Gate,
what bore the name of Headless
Cross, consisting Of about four quad
triangular steps, Ave feet high. I
knew it in perfection.
tHither the market people, hav-
ing their mouth primed with tobac-
CO as a preventative, brought their
provisions, stood at a distance from
their property, and at a greater from
the towns people, with whom they
were to traffic.
!" The buyer was not suffered to
touch any Of the articles before pur-
chase; when the agreement was fin
ished he took the goods and depos-
ited the money in a vessel filed with
vinegar, set for that purpose.
The mention of tobacco in the
foregoing inscription, is curiosity,
showing that the weed was then re.
garded as a very cfficacious prevent.
i've.
Winchester suffered much from
the plague in 1866. On the down.
near the city are numerous curioualy
shaped mounds, which are said ia
cover the pits into which the dead
were cast.
When the pestilence ragged a prim.
tive kind of quarantine was prac.
ticed. The country folk supplied
food, which was placed on a stone
outside the city, and in exchange the
citizens placed money in a bowl Of
water.
The old plague stone still remains
built into the base of a monument
which bears an inscription as follows;
@T'his monument is>erected BY thu
Society of Natives, on the very spot
of ground from which the markets
we're removed, and whose basis is the
very stone on which exchanges wer.
made whilst the city lay under the
scourge OF the destroying pestilence.
in the year sixteen sundred sixtiy-si1
The Society Of Natives was found.
ed on the 26th of August, 1869, fo1
the relief Of the widows and orphans
OF their fellow-citizens who died Of
the great plague"
Beneath a spreading tree in the
. grounds Of Tothby house, near Al
ford, Lincolnshire, is a plague stone
About 275 years ago the inhabitantl
Of spilsby and the surrounding vii
lagos day after day toiled up to til,
top OF Miles Cross hill, which over
looks the wide marsh country. will
Afford lying justat the foot.
\ Attic top they left food, etc, 10,
the poor sufferers and took in seturr
money deposited in vessels contain
ing water a other liquid placed Of
the plague stone. Then the peopl,
Of Afford came up the other side .
the hill for their supplies. Thus tn,
two parties kept well apart.
wnwan IN reaaAa