London's LOST Plague Pits!

In London today, whilst walking around the city it is possible that you may be walking above huge plague pits. These were mass graves created to deal with the Black Death and the Great Plague of London that hit in 1665. These were mass burial sites to deal with the sheer amount of people who were dying each day. Thousands were dying of the Plague each week in London, and even the Plague Pits were filling up, different churches had to purchase more land to bury the dead. St Brides Church for example dug a huge pit, but within a matter of weeks over 1000 people had been buried there. The Great Plague was incredibly deadly, but a year after the Great Fire of London hit, destroying many of the records.
The Great Fire laid waste to much of London, and because the records were destroyed then many of the Plague Pits were lost and today they are still being unearthed. When the London Underground is extended or when new buildings are created then dozens of skeletons of victims from the plague, sometimes hundreds are unearthed. Next time you visit London, remember you could be standing on the bodies of hundreds!
So join us today as we look at, 'London's LOST Plague Pits!'
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[@lesleysmith51]

When I worked at St Bartholomew's hospital it was said at night the tunnels that were built under the square you could hear screaming and crying. The square was supposed to be where the plague pit was. The tunnels were built to link different hospital buildings together, but were creepy enough during the day so I don't think very many people used them at night.

[@bam-skater]

I was told years ago Green Park is left 'green' as they don't want to go digging flower beds because of what lies beneath.

[@letitbesummer6536]

Wow that’s interesting. And creepy

[@DaleDix]

Might grow triffids

[@alansmith8694]

My grandfather worked at the gin distillery located in York Road Battersea London. He told me that they found a Plaque Pit when digging foundations to extend the distillery back in the 1950/60s

[@LoveintheshapeofaPitBull]

Love the etchings and art work visuals. Great content, your voice is so very soothing and relaxing even when describing such brutal history!

[@Stripeyperch]

Those plague doctors dressed in black with the big beaks full of herbs and spices are absolutely fascinating.

[@letitbesummer6536]

I can’t wait to go to London again. So much history!! This is very interesting

[@ellstark372]

London’s a cess pit…go to scotland instead it’s steeped in history, beautiful and you’re much less likely to get mugged or killed!

[@letitbesummer6536]

@@ellstark372 About 45% of my ancestry is Scottish, another 40% is Irish. The rest is English & north Western Europe. Been to Scotland once, but really need to go back!

[@elizabethspedding1975]

Very interesting, thanks.🌹

[@Dirtdevil1]

Goodness... you said that the plague was found in a victim's tooth from a plague pit that was stumbled upon?

[@danalden1112]

Fascinating archaeological pictures! Worried about the diggers’ exposure to fungal infection though. In specific to what is called Valley Fever where I worked on burial sites in California. A fungus that grows inside cranial vaults and whose spores are inhaled upon excavation. Coicciodoides spp.

[@jennyrose9454]

There is a cemetery near me where it lists workers as victims of " swamp fever" I wonder if that's from mosquitos?

[@patriciaecampbell372]

Can you imagine the horror....

[@eileenlocke7877]

Interesting thank u but sad 😞

[@robbabcock_]

What a macabre and gory thought! It's hard to imagine death on that scale, and I imagine disposal of hundreds of thousands or corpses was a tremendous challenge. ☠👻

[@eileenlocke7877]

Very sad 😞

[@adriank8676]

Me : why is that skeleton so small Also me : oh😳

[@malicant123]

There is a part of Dublin called "Blackpits". I think the inspiration for the name is clear.

[@borisbash]

No audio

[@jackiereynolds2888]

The fire must have gone a long way toward sterilizing the land.

[@phil955i]

Is there any truth in the story that Gravesend in Kent is so named because that's where the London plague pits ended?

[@Jin-Ro]

No, the name pre-dates the plague by at least 600 years. In the Textus Roffensis of ~1100 AD it's so named Gravesend, and it predates even that text.

[@c.norbertneumann4986]

Why weren't the corpses of the plague dead burned?

[@shawniechew]

It’s air-born, burning the dead would have made it spread faster

[@wengerball8697]

I think it’s because they believed bad air (misama) they called it,caused the spread of the plague. So digging a big pit and burying them made sense.

[@samkangal8428]

And in a 100years they watch Corona on a history channel😆

[@csc7225]

Hardly. As bad as COVID is, you can't compare a death rate of 1% to death rates between 30% and 50% for the waves of bubonic plague that swept Europe (most notably in London in 1348 and 1665.

[@cyberpunkedgerunner2644]

COVID 19 is a joke compared to Yersinia Pestis aka Black Plague (three forms of em). Some people today have antibodies against it now, since their ancestors fought it and survived.

[@jennyrose9454]

Yeah it'll be called the Great Exaggeration. Don't get me wrong yes it kills people. But so did flus every single year in history.

[@samkangal8428]

@Jenny Rose Yes ,but it changed the world in many ways ,and that's unique so far .

[@jennyrose9454]

@@samkangal8428 you're right about that

[@bookwormaddict3933]

Anyone see a resemblance of how covid patients are treated in comparison Plague victims were treated?

[@Austin8thGenTexan]

Nope.

[@jennyrose9454]

The plague was so much worse. Smallpox too. I mean covid has such a small death rate( except with the already weakened ill and elderly but that's nothing unique). Also small pox and the plague were horrifying to look at. I do think they're treating everyone like Typhoid Mary these days rather than a plague comparison( assuming everyone is contagious at any time).