PLAGUE STONES.
In a recent and valuable report addressed to the General Board of Health, on the sanitary state of the borough of Dorchester, by a gentleman to whom I, in common with all the readers of "N. & Q.," have often been indebted—I mean Robert Rawlinson, Esq.,—an allusion is made to the existence of "Plague Stones" in different parts of the country. Briefly recording the principal visitations of plague in Dorchester and its neighbourhood, he describes these "plague stones" as "stones placed on the boundary limits of old towns, having a circular or square dish-like sinking in them, which was filled with water, into which the town's people dropped the purchase-money in their dealings with the country people, as was supposed, to prevent infection. Such stones may be seen in many places throughout England." The object of this communication is, to suggest the propriety of a list of these curious relics being made, through the medium of your excellent paper. I am not aware of any such list at present existing. A plague stone is to be seen, I believe, at Penrith; and another near Manchester, which is, I am told, called the "Giant's Stone." The name of the latter seems, to my mind, to point to a more remote period, unless an existing monument of antiquity bearing that title was during the times of plague converted to the temporary use of receiving the suspected money in the hollowed dish, which is made at the top of these "plague stones." By the way, might not our forefathers have suffered less from the fearful visitations and devastating epidemics to which so many hundreds of thousands of them fell victims, if they had been as careful to wash themselves habitually in aqua pura as they were to wash the money which they received from suspected localities. The custom above alluded to admitted the powerfully cleansing qualities of water. It would have been good for them, especially in trying times of plague, if they had not been so accustomed to "let" the "well alone," as regards their own personal purification.
J. J. S.
The Cloisters, Temple.