{{Short description|Mass graves of Black Death victims}} thumb|149 victims of the Great Plague were buried at All Saints' Churchyard at Isleworth in 1665
A '''plague pit''' is the informal term used to refer to mass graves in which victims of the Black Death were buried. The term is most often used to describe pits located in Great Britain, but can be applied to any place where bubonic plague victims were buried.{{cn|date=May 2023}} __TOC__ ==Origin== The plague which swept across China, the Middle East, and Europe in the 14th century is estimated to have killed between one-third and two-thirds of Europe's population.<ref name="barry">Stéphane Barry and Norbert Gualde, "The Greatest Epidemic of History" ("La plus grande épidémie de l'histoire", in ''L'Histoire'' n° 310, June 2006, pp.45-46, say "between one-third and two-thirds"; Robert Gottfried (1983). "Black Death" in ''Dictionary of the Middle Ages'', volume 2, pp.257-67, says "between 25 and 45 percent".</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://history.boisestate.edu/westciv/plague/15.shtml |title=Population Loss |publisher=History.boisestate.edu |accessdate=2011-10-27 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207081157/http://history.boisestate.edu/westciv/plague/15.shtml |archivedate=2009-02-07 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/osheim/plaguein.html |title=Plague and Public Health in Renaissance Europe |publisher=.iath.virginia.edu |date=1994-10-28 |accessdate=2011-10-27}}</ref> Disposal of the bodies of those who died presented huge problems for the authorities, and eventually the normal patterns of burial and funerary observance broke down.{{cn|date=May 2023}}
==Major plague outbreaks== Plague pits were used especially often during major plague outbreaks, such as the London epidemic of 1665. With between 15% of London’s population died between 1665-1666.<ref name="u665">{{cite web | last=Johnson | first=Ben | title=Plague Pits in London | website=Historic UK | date=26 November 2023 | url=https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryMagazine/DestinationsUK/LondonPlaguePits/ | access-date=7 February 2026}}</ref> Graveyards rapidly filled and parishes became strained; for example the number of deaths in the parish of St Bride's Church, Fleet Street, in 1665 was almost six times the average.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.ac.uk/cmh/epiharding.html |title=Burial of the plague dead in early modern London |publisher=History.ac.uk |date= |accessdate=2011-10-27}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plague Pit}} Category:Epidemiology Category:Cemeteries Category:Death in the United Kingdom Category:Plague monuments and memorials Category:Mass graves in the United Kingdom Category:Great Plague of London Category:Black Death