|
|
The popular memory is of the mid 14th century Black Death and the period following the plague of London in 1665.
But infections came at many other times and have left their marks in documentary material: around 1606/7 South Warwickshire was hit - the Stratford-Upon-Avon council held a collection in 1607 'towards the relief of Alcester, being infected with the plague' (C.R.O. -DR 350/16). The year before, John Dodd of Alcester made a will, probably seeing his death approaching, in which is written 'he then being visited with the plague of pestilence!
Our area in a fairly remote part of Warwickshire has suffered down the centuries, like any other, from the incidence of plagues.
Returning to the Black Death: in 1348/9 an average of 200 people were buried each day in London. We have no numbers for this area but it is surely no mere coincidence that in that year both the parish priest of Alcester and the abbot of the abbey died. What we do know is that between 1350 and 1400 this district saw an outbreak of plague at irregular intervals. Only the absence of documentation prevents our hazarding a guess at the number of fatalities