This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Think outside the box (talk | contribs) at 12:27, 21 January 2008 (reword -> intro / remove -> copyright text / dead link). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 12:27, 21 January 2008 by Think outside the box (talk | contribs) (reword -> intro / remove -> copyright text / dead link)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)A plague pit is the informal term used to refer to mass graves which victims of epidemics, specifically the Black Death, were buried. Often hundreds of bodies would be buried in a single location, as the risk of further infection from traditional funerary rites was too great. It is unlikely, in the case of the Black Death, that this practice had any appreciable effect on slowing down the spread of the disease.
At the start of the plague outbreak, parishes did the best they could to provide proper burials for their parishioners, but soon ran out of space and began to dig mass graves within the city. However, the plague was so devastating that soon, in late 1665, the group graves began to be dug outside the city.
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