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Dorset’s Darkest Day

It was a long time ago but 25th June 1348 was probably Dorset’s worst day ever. For it was when it is believed that infected sailors arrived at Melcombe, near Weymouth from Gascony in France carrying the Black Death. Like most ships, it would have been carrying rats. No-one knew at the time the causes of the epidemic which became known as the Great Pestilence. Local townsfolk were the first victims of the epidemic.

The Great Pestilence quickly spread around Weymouth and people left the town taking the Black Death with them. So many died in Portland that the quarries fell silent. Within weeks, it had spread along the coast and up river valleys. Quickly, it passed through Devon and Somerset and onto Bristol and beyond. The disease was transmitted it is believed by fleas. Sufferers first experienced a black rash, then swollen glands, a high fever and finally death. Such was the devastation of the epidemic that the Bishop of Salisbury appointed new priests in Dorset on 22 days during the 30 days of November. Of those infected, most died within three weeks.

Some Dorset villages had to be abandoned and labour shortages led to changes in agricultural methods that were less labour intensive. For the first time because of these shortages, labourers could demand wages. Parliament issued a Proclamation requiring all men to return to work at their previous rates of pay. Broadcaster and rural historian, Jack Hargreaves reckoned around 80 Dorset villages and hamlets disappeared. They became known as the ‘plague villages’. By November 1348, the Black Death had spread to London.

A plaque can be found near Weymouth Harbour commemorating one of the less welcome events in the town’s history. One historian claimed that over a four year period almost a half of Europe’s population was lost because of the Black Death. The peak of the Great Pestilence lasted until the spring of 1349. However, in 1861/62 the plague came back to England.

More recently it has been suggested that the Black Death was a viral infection which was passed from person to person.

(Sources include: Dorset History Blog - 6th April 2020 and How plague devastated the villages of Wessex by Jack Hargreaves.)
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