Hi, > Bob, that stuff is interesting to me. They had a program on the tv here in > the US about the huge graveyard full of plague victims that they found in > London.
we have plague pits everywhere. It killed a lot of people and some communities still have festivals every year to celebrate their salvation - particularly well-dressings in Derbyshire, where they garland the wells with flowers. I think the pit you're talking about may have been at Spitalfields in London. This was formerly a medieval hospital - hence the name and the pits full of bones. The nearest plague pit to me that I know of is in Deptford, about 1.5 miles away in the church of St. Nicholas. The great Christopher Marlowe was thrown into the pit after he was murdered, and remains there to this day. People are not inclined to open plague pits. Here are some cheerful snaps of the church: http://www.web-options.com/Nick1.jpg http://www.web-options.com/Nick2.jpg http://www.web-options.com/Nick3.jpg This sort of thing is quite common here, and presumably also in other parts of Europe. One of the interesting beneficial side-effects of the plague in England was that as a result of so many deaths, demand for agricultural labour outstripped supply, which led to significant improvements in the power of the common man, the end of feudalism and the birth of the idea of ordinary people having rights and freedoms. > Once in a while the US news networks report that unexploded WWII bombs were > found. Is that something that happens often? Not so often any more. Still, we do find them occasionally. Greenwich, where I live, and its neighbours Deptford, the Isle of Dogs and Woolwich, were major targets during the war because of the docks. There is a block of flats being completed just now by the river. I've walked past it most days for the last 6 or 7 years. Last summer the path had to be closed for a while because the builders found what was described as 'ordnance' - an unexploded bomb - next to it. -- Cheers, Bob
