‘To be had for a Pesthouse for the use of this parish’: plague pesthouses in early Stuart London, c. 1600–1650
-
Published:2022-11-02
Issue:
Volume:
Page:1-21
-
ISSN:0963-9268
-
Container-title:Urban History
-
language:en
-
Short-container-title:Urban History
Abstract
Abstract
The use of the pesthouse in early modern England has received limited attention by scholars, in particular, how it was used in London. The study of the pesthouse tells us about the nature of parochial government in the capital, the early development of public health policies and the relationship between national and civic authorities and the suburban parishes, where plague was a long-term problem and intersected forcefully with poverty. This article explores how suburban parishes used the pesthouse in their repertoire of response to plague between c. 1600 and 1650, which is situated in the context of experiments with the pesthouse in England's provincial towns and cities. The article considers the development of the City of London's pesthouse in St Giles Cripplegate, its limited use by suburban parishes under the City's jurisdiction, and the establishment of a local pesthouse by some suburban parishes beyond the jurisdiction of the City.
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Subject
Urban Studies,Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous),History,Geography, Planning and Development
Reference15 articles.
1. Government in early modern London: the challenge of the suburbs;Archer;Proceedings of the British Academy,2001
2. Living standards and plague in London 1560–1665;Cummins;Economic History Review,2016
3. Perceptions of plague in eighteenth-century Europe;Slack;Economic History Review,2022