Went to the village of Swinbrook on Monday and a short distance away is this small church standing on its own. It was once the centre of a village called Widford which has completely disappeared apart from this church. It was all due (apparently) to the Black Death plague sometime in the 13th Century.
If you want to read about it (and some fascinating tales of locals, highwaymen and boy racers) then click here: https://www.the-kirbys.org.uk/gen/Places/Widford/GenealogyNotes.html
@delboy207@thewatersphotos
I thought that the Black Death that wiped out the inhabitants bore an uncanny resemblance to present-day Covid? Anyway, further down in the link there's reference to a case of 2 young blokes racing their horses and causing a chap to be thrown from his horse and dies. It seems they had boy racers even back then!
If you want a terrifying description of what it was like to be around for the Black Death, try The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century by Ian Mortimer. The plague chapter is short but horrific.
June 23rd, 2021
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I thought that the Black Death that wiped out the inhabitants bore an uncanny resemblance to present-day Covid? Anyway, further down in the link there's reference to a case of 2 young blokes racing their horses and causing a chap to be thrown from his horse and dies. It seems they had boy racers even back then!