The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-07-21
PLAGUE STONES.
Reminders of the Time Of the Great
PestIence In England.


PestiIence In England.
The story of the great plague &C
London is familiar to all readers of his
tory and has been dealt with by many
writer's of fiction. Even the bypaths OF
history supply much suggestive matter,
while hidden away in chnrchwardens
and other old accounts are many items
that remind us of those days. Here,
for example, are two entries from the
parish accounts of st. Mary Woolnoth.
London:
1884,. Item. for setting a crosse upon one
Aliens doors in the sicknesse
time ............................ lid
Item, paid for setting two red
crosses upon Anthony Sound his
dore ihJd
The crosses were about a foot in
length. The crosses served as a eau.
ton against entering such houses. In
various parts of England the plague
stones are silent reminders of the time
when epidemics laid low so many in
habitants both in town and country.
A stone In the Derby arboretum
bears the following inscription:
"Headless Cross or Market StSne-
This stone formed part of the ancient
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
grew upon that spot which had fur
nished the supports of life.
ITO prevent a famine the inhabit-
ants erected at the top of Nuns Green,
enc or two hundred yards from the
buildings, now Friar Gate. what bore
the name of Headless Cross, consisting
Of about four quadrangular steps five
feet high. 1 knew it In perfection.
"'Hither the market people, having
their mouth primed with tobacco as
preservattve brought their provisions,
stood at a.dtstance from their property
and at a.greater from the towns peo-
Die. wfth.whom they were to traffic.
1.-The buyer was not suffered to
touch any Of the articles before pur-
chase. When the agreement was fin
lshed 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 a curiosity, show
ing that the weed was then regarded
as a 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-
rive kind of quarantine was practiced.
The country folk supplied food. which
was placed on a stone outside the city,
and In exchange the citizens placed
money in q 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 sixtysix. The Society
Of Natives was founded on the 26th of
August, 1860, for the relief Of the wild
ows and orphans of their fellow citi- |
Eens who died Of the great plague"
Beneath a 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
az deposited in vessels containing wa
ter or other liquid placed on the plague
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.