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>A good job some soap was all you needed to get rid of the Plague …< I trust this was a joke (in rather poor taste, if I may say so). Today, where this disease is endemic, it has to be treated with a cocktail of very powerful antibiotics, and even then, it is not always successful. Plague bacteria (Yersinia pestis – established beyond doubt) are transmitted from bites (usually of rats, but it seems other rodents may also carry the bacterium, as with hantavirus in the United States), or mainly from the bites of fleas who have fed on infected animals. Bubonic plague (the classic swellings-in-the armpits stage) is most treatable: septicaemic plague (blood infection) is more deadly, and the plague can develop a third phase, pneumonic plague, a lung infection which is usually spread by inhaling the drops of blood coughed and sneezed up by victims. This has a much higher mortality rate. It is (I understand) a painful and disgusting way to die. The myth (I assume it is a myth, I have no direct evidence) that hollows in stones full of vinegar were used to disinfect coins when plague was at hand, would have been ineffective in preventing its spread, in a market environment full of farm animals and their inevitable accompaniment of rats and mice. Vince Vince Russett Archaeologist Development & Environment North Somerset Council Tel: 01934 426256 or 07917265645 E-Mail: [log in to unmask] Post: Town Hall, Walliscote Grove Road, Weston-super-Mare, BS23 1UJ Web: www.n-somerset.gov.uk<http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/> From: Issues related to Historic Environment Records [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Iles, Peter Sent: Friday, December 04, 2015 2:56 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: A Friday afternoon question A good job some soap was all you needed to get rid of the Plague … I don't know about the hollowed bowl, but the circles, particularly the lower one, remind me of cheese press stones. Whilst there is a pair, the circles don't look right for the pivot stones from a harr-hung barn door, nor do they look like 'wuzzing stones' for distaff spinning, both of which I've seen in barn walls. Peter Iles Specialist Advisor (Archaeology) Lancashire County Council, Development Management, PO Box 100, County Hall, Preston, PR1 0LD. t. 01772 531550 e. [log in to unmask] Please note that the information provided [in this email/letter] is supplied as technical advice from the Lancashire County Archaeology Service only. It does not replace formal consultation with or the approval of the relevant Local Planning Authority. In particular it should be noted that the Service cannot and does not provide a formal approval of a written scheme of investigation or an archaeological report required as part of a planning condition. Such approvals and the subsequent discharge of the planning condition can only be provided upon formal application to the Local Planning Authority. From: Issues related to Historic Environment Records [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Robert White Sent: 04 December 2015 14:45 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: A Friday afternoon question The carved stones shown below are reused as quoins on a ?early C19th outshot to a combination barn in the Lune valley near Sedbergh. According to the planning officer who sent the images to me “The owner told of a family story that they had been stones standing elsewhere and used for the washing of money given in exchange for farm produce during times of plague” Any more plausible explanations or parallels? [cid:image001.jpg@01D130C9.91D10750] [cid:image002.jpg@01D130C9.91D10750] [cid:image003.jpg@01D130C9.91D10750] Robert White Senior Historic Environment Officer Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority Yoredale, Bainbridge, Leyburn, North Yorkshire DL8 3EL Tel: 0300 456 0030 Direct Line: 01969 652360 Fax: 01756 751699 eMail: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> www.yorkshiredales.org.uk<http://www.yorkshiredales.org.uk> www.outofoblivion.org.uk<http://www.outofoblivion.org.uk> R [Image removed by sender. YDNPA 60th Anniversary logo] Warning<br><br>This email and any attachments may contain information that is privileged, confidential or otherwise protected from disclosure. They are intended solely for the named recipient(s), and must not be used by, or copied or disclosed to, any other persons. If you are not an intended recipient please accept our apologies, contact us to let us know the email has gone astray, and then delete it. 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