Plague Stone, Richmond, Coast to Coast
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Plague Stone in St Mary's Churchyard, Richmond
Plague Stone, Richmond, Coast to Coast
The graveyard of St Mary's Church in Richmond contains a Plague Stone. The Stone marks the pit where 1,072 people where buried, having been overcome by the Black Plague between 1597 and 1599.
The Plague Stone is unmarked, containing no etching and no wording, and is simply blank. The Bell Tower of the church faces west, and the apse faces east. The location of the Plague Stone is quite close to the north face of the church near to the apse, and is conspicuous because of its blank sides.
Richmond has a second Plague Stone, located further to the south east of the church, nearer to Mercury bridge and the north east bank of the River Swale. The second stone marks the Plague Pit where another 700 people were buried during the further outbreak of the Black Plague between 1644 and 1645. The second Stone is midway between the Church and the Clink Pool.
Further outbreaks of the Black Death are not likely to occur, man having discovered its cause and having created a vaccine to prevent it.
Plague Stone at St Mary's
The only notable feature of the Plague Stone is its completely blank canvass. All of the other stones have etching or motifs on them.
Plague Stone at St Marys Church
The Plague Stone's apparent proximity to the north side of St Mary's church is apparent in this image.
North Face of St Mary's
The Plague Stone is located at the north end of St Mary's Church at the other side of the yew tree dominating the centre of the image.
Second Plague Pit
The Second Plague Pit is within a field a little south of St Mary's Churchyard. It is close to Mercury Bridge in an area likely to succumb to development, causing an outcry from the local residents.
Coast to Coast Trail Guide
Hiking the Coast to Coast
"Hiking the Coast to Coast" is a digitally enhanced eBook available from Apple Books for all people who have either a Mac, an iPhone or an iPad, and is designed to accompany you on your walk of the Coast to Coast path. The trail guide contains Ordnance Survey maps and other advanced mapping features, step by step directions, hundreds of colour photographs, details of the route, its conditions in different weather and research snippets relating to places of interest along the way.
