Plague Day at Woolsthorpe

You come across all kinds of strange people when you go for a walk in the woods around Woolsthorp Manor. Mind, it was Gravity Fields Festival and Woolsthorpe was celebrating Plague Day!
There was a trail to follow that took us through fields and over styles and along rough and muddy forest paths.
The first person we saw was very scary. He wore a Bird Mask and didn't speak at all. He just pointed us on our way.

We came across a small church and in the graveyard was Samuel Pepys and his wife. He was writing in his diary about his fears of the Plague. He asked us if we'd seen any people who looked like they were ill. He told his wife he wanted her to leave London with his children so they wouldn't become infected. His wife was crying because she didn't want to leave him. It was all very sad.

Inside the church it was deserted apart from a young woman singing a sorrowful song. She sounded heart-broken. When I looked closer I saw she was holding a dead child in her arms. No wonder she was so sad.

Mourning her dead child

We made our way into the village and suddenly a man appeared. He didn't look well at all. He had red boils and blood on his face. We walked swiftly passed!

Next we saw a woman standing by a little bridge that went over a babbling stream. She didn't seem ill  and she was holding small bunches of yellow flowers in her hands. After she'd checked that we weren't infected she tried to sell us the flowers as she said they would protect us from the plague. "Buy a ring of rosies, a pocket-full of posies" was what she said to us.

She was also selling  what looked like pendants with number squares on them. She explained the numbers would protect us from the plague too. She was quite insistent we buy from her but then we were interrupted by a loud bell ringing and a clattering noise! It was a small boy pulling a wooden cart. Suddenly he yelled, "Bring out your dead!"  He asked us if we'd seen any dead people. We were about to say "No" but then I spotted a couple of bodies in a nearby stream. The boy was excited because the more bodies he collected, the more money he was paid!

We headed along a path into the woods and soon came across an elderly couple. The old man asked us if we'd buy his wedding ring because he needed money so they could head north to find "cleaner air" His wife was upset and crying; she didn't want to leave at all.

Further along, and deeper into the woods we came across a lady sitting knitting. She said she was waiting for her children. It turned out her children were sewer rats! They came screaming out of a tunnel and gave us all a fright! She said "Oh, come here my lovely children" but then she scolded them for eating the corpses!

Knitting clothes for her "children"

The "children" turned out to be Rats!

 Further into the forest it became darker and then we came across the Grim Reaper! He didn't say much, he just glared at us and beckoned us further into the wood.

We came across a clearing and we saw three graves. Mom and I posed for a picture. We didn't hang about though as a man with a Bird-Mask carrying a Bible made his way towards us. Mom asked why he was wearing the mask but we were met with a stony silence.

We headed quickly off and came across another couple. They turned out to be a rich land owner who had lost all of his family and servants to the plague and the lady with him was his last remaining servant. He had a pile of his belongings and a "special" chair. However, he expected his servant to carry all of it! She was crying because she couldn't carry it all. The land -owner turned to father and asked him if he could buy me! He actually though I was a servant! Dad asked him "How Much?

We climbed a very awkward style, crossed a path and out of nowhere two women appeared. They definitely had the plague so we kept our distance. They pointed at Father and said, "He definitely has the Plague!"

There were more graves in the fields. This time a man stood nearby. He had lost his wife and child and he had nothing left to live for.

We climbed uphill and came across a woman and her little boy sitting in the field. She looked really grey and sad. She wanted us to take her child because she was dying. She didn't look too bad until she pulled up her sleeve and her arm was covered in ghastly boils. It made me feel quite sad.

Further uphill we saw the Mayor. He was surprisingly jolly. He was confident the plague would not reach the town and things weren't really that bad. We were asked lots of questions like, did we have a cough, or a fever or boils on our bodies. When we answered "No" we were allowed to go on our way. Thankfully, the plague never actually spread as far as Woolsthorpe but sadly it claimed many, many lives.