A plague pit is the informal term used to refer to mass graves in which victims of the

Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

were buried. The term is most often used to describe pits located in Great Britain, but can be applied to any place where

bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of plague caused by the plague bacterium (''Yersinia pestis''). One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and vomiting, as well a ...

victims were buried.

Origin

The plague which swept across

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, Middle East, and Europe in the 14th century is estimated to have killed between one-third and two-thirds of Europe's population.Stéphane Barry and Norbert Gualde, "The Greatest Epidemic of History" ("La plus grande épidémie de l'histoire", in '' L'Histoire'' n° 310, June 2006, pp.45-46, say "between one-third and two-thirds";

Robert Gottfried Robert W. Gottfried (May 15, 1926 – May 26, 2007) was an American home builder, developer and real estate entrepreneur whose signature French Regency-style residences remain sought-after, highly prized addresses in world-famous Palm Beach, Flori ...

(1983). "Black Death" in '' Dictionary of the Middle Ages'', volume 2, pp.257-67, says "between 25 and 45 percent". Disposal of the bodies of those who died presented huge problems for the authorities, and eventually the normal patterns of burial and funerary observance broke down.

Major plague outbreaks

Plague pits were used especially often during major plague outbreaks, such as the London epidemic of 1665. Graveyards rapidly filled and parishes became strained; for example the number of deaths in the parish of

St Bride's Church St Bride's Church is a church in the City of London, England. The building's most recent incarnation was designed by Sir Christopher Wren in 1672 in Fleet Street in the City of London, though Wren's original building was largely gutted by fire d ...

, Fleet Street, in 1665 was almost six times normal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plague Pit Epidemiology Cemeteries Death in the United Kingdom Plague monuments and memorials