Since coming back to school last week, Upper School have been learning about the Great Plague of 1665-1666. There are some comparisons between the way families dealt with the Plague then and how we deal with Covid-19 now. Isolation has occurred both times as a way to control the spread but fortunately this time we haven't had to paint red crosses on our doors! When the plague spread to Eyam in Derbyshire, in what has thought to be flea ridden fabrics sent to the tailor from London, only ninety of the three hundred and fifty residents survived. 

Did you know that the nursery rhyme Ring-a-ring o'roses is thought to have been about the plague of 1665?

Ring-a-ring o' roses,

A pocket full of posies,

A-tishoo! A-tishoo!

We all fall down.

  • The 'roses' are the red blotches on the skin.
  • The 'posies' are the sweet-smelling flowers people carried to try to ward off the plague.
  • 'Atishoo' refers to the sneezing fits of people with pneumonic plague.
  • 'We all fall down' refers to people dying.