The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1907-02-27
PLAGUE STOKES.
Reminders Of the Tire of the Great
PsStilenee Ia England.

Reminders Of the Tire of the Great
PsStiIsnce In England.
The story of lhe great plague o.
London Is familiar to all readers OF his
tory and has been dealt with by many
writers Of fiction. Even the bypaths Of
history supply much suggestive matter.
while hidden away in churctwardens
and other old accounts are many items
that remind US OF thJse days. Here
for example. ase two entries from the
parish accoun. o. :. Mary Woolnoth.
London:
Hss-L Item. for ns a crosse upon enc
Aliens dcC.s in the sicknesse
time Observation-Disclosures. lid
Item. paid for setting two red
crosses upon Anthony Sound his
dore .....-.-.........-........-. Hid
The crosses were about a foot in
length. The crosses served as eau
tion against entering such houses Il
various parts of En- land the pla
stones are silent rem .nIers OF th,. t
when epIdemlcs laid low so many IL
Aabltants both in town and country.
A stone in the Derby arbOretum
bears the following inscriptions:
'Headless Cross or Market Stone
This stone formed part of the ancielt
Cross at the upper end of Friar Gate
and was used by the inhabitants OF
Derby as a market stone during the
visitation Of the plague 1865. 1t Is thus
described by Hutton in his History Of
Derby!
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 had fur
nished the supports of life.
To prevent famine the lnhabit-
ants erected at the top Of Nuns Green,
one or two hundred yards fron the
buildings, now Friar Gate, what bore
the name Of Headless Cross, consisting
OF about four Quadrangular steps five
feet high. knew it in perfection.
"'Hither the market people, having
their mouth primed with tobacco as a
preservative. brought their provisions.
stood at distance from their property
and at greater from the towns peo-
pie, 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 deposited
the money in a vessel filed with vine
gar set for that purpose.
The mention OF tobacco in the fore
going Inscription is curiosity. show
ing that the weed was then regarded
as very efficacious preventive.
Winchester suffered much from the
plague in 1866 On the downs near the
city are numerous curiously shaped
mounds which are said to cover the
pits into which the dead were cast
When the peStilence ragged a primi-
tive kind Of quarantine was practiced.
The country folk supplied food, which
was placed on stone outside the city,
and In exchange the citizens placed
money in bowl OF water.
The old plague stone still remains.
built into the base of a monument.
which bears an inscription as follows:
This monument is erected by the
Society OF Natives on the very spot of
ground from which the markets were
removed and whose basis is the very
stone on which exchanges were made
while the city lay under the scourge of
the destroying pestilence in the year
sixteen hundred sixty-six. The Society
Of Natives was founded on the 26th of
August, 1860, for the relief Of the wild
ows and orphans Of their fellow clti-
zens who died of the great plague"
Beneath spreading tree in the
grounds of Tothby House, near Afford,
Lincolnshire. is a plague stone. About
275 years ago the inhabitants Of Spills
by and the surrounding villages day
after day toiled up to the top of Miles
Cross hill. which overlooks the wide
marsh country, with Afford lying Just
at the foot.
At the top they left food. etc, for the
poor sufferers and took in return mon
q deposited in vessels containing wa
ter or other liquid placed on the plngue
stone. Then the people Of Afford came
up the other side of the hill for their
supplies. Thus the two parties kept
well apart-Chambers' Journal.