Cholera pit

Memorial to the victims of the 1832 cholera epidemic at the Howard Park cholera pit, Kilmarnock.

A cholera pit was a burial place used in a time of emergency when the disease was prevalent. Such mass graves were often unmarked and were placed in remote or specially selected locations. Public fears of contagion, lack of space within existing churchyards[1] and restrictions placed on the movements of people from location to location[2] also contributed to their establishment and use. Many of the victims were poor and lacked the funds for memorial stones, however memorials were sometimes added at a later date.[1]

Burials

Often the bodies of cholera victims were wrapped in cotton or linen and doused in coal-tar or pitch before placing into a coffin. Each burial was in a pit 8 ft deep and liberally sprinkled with quicklime.[3] The bodies were sometimes burnt before interment.[4]

Long term risks

It is considered that the cholera risk posed through disturbance of cholera pits from the 19th century is non-existent as transmission is through contaminated water or food.[5]

Cholera outbreaks

An early 19th century incidence of asiatic cholera in Europe was recorded in Russia and other continental countries in the spring of 1831. The first occurrence in England was in the Autumn of 1831 when it reached Sunderland, by 1832 it was at Exeter, and it spread rapidly through the British Isles, reaching Kilmarnock in July 1832.[3][6] Other less severe outbreaks were recorded in 1849 and 1853.[7] In the USA Outbreaks of cholera took place in 1834, 1849, and 1861.[8]

Traditions, legends, and history associated with cholera pits

Detail of the site of the old cholera pit below South Barr farm, known locally as the 'Dead mans planting'
The site of the cholera pit near Spier's Old School Grounds.

At Barrmill in North Ayrshire the tradition is that the disease was passed on from a group of gipsies camped on Whin Hill that local boys had gone out to meet. Troops were regularly placed to prevent entry or exit during cholera outbreaks and normal burial in Beith was impossible and impractical, given the number of deaths. The burial site was fenced off and bordered by trees, kept in order by the Crawford Bros. from the factory until they died. It has been neglected since then.[2]

In 1834 cholera broke out in Beith and although 'clothes were burned, bedding fumigated, stairs and closes whitewashed, a nurse who was a veteran of the Dalry outbreak was engaged and a ban placed on entertainments at funerals.' There were 100 cases in September 1834, 205 people were eventually affected with 105 deaths. Some of the people were buried in the parish churchyard, but others were buried in a field, close to what became Spier's School, on the little common south-west of where the Geilsland Road meets the Powgree Burn.[9] Robert Spier, the father of John Spier, was a member of the local Health Board.[10]

The burial at Cleeves Cove is said to that of a member of the family who lived at Cleeves Farm. Tradition has it that "A prediction was uttered many long ages ago, that Cleaves (sic), on three successive occasions, would be the first place in the parish visited by the pestilence. The cholera of 1832 was called the fulfillment of the second visitation : accordingly, many of the older inhabitants talk of one still being in reserve."[11]

When attempting to create a burial pit in Little Bury Meadow near Exeter, the locals attacked the grave-digger when he arrived to break the ground.[3]

In Kilmarnock a patch of ground was purchased in Howard's Park "partly because the common-burying ground of the town was considered too small to meet the necessities of the case, and partly to prevent apprehended infection, as the graves in the new locality might remain in an undisturbed condition for a longer period."[1]

The construction of the proposed rail link to Glasgow Airport involved disturbance of the Paisley cholera pit; however, the project was cancelled.[5]

Cholera pit locations

Boundary marker of the cholera pit within the Howard Park, Kilmarnock.

England

Devon

Gloucestershire

Manchester

Oxfordshire

Sheffield

Yorkshire (North)

Scotland

Highland

Ayrshire (East)

The plaque at the cholera pit memorial in the Howard Park, Kilmarnock, North Ayrshire.

Ayrshire (North)

Dumfries and Galloway

The Cholera Pit in St.Michael's churchyard, Dumfries.

Renfrewshire

Wales

Cardiff

Northern Ireland

Belfast

Ireland

Dublin

USA

Indiana

Canada

Toronto

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 McKay, Page 241
  2. 1 2 3 Porterfield, Page 35.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Exeter Memories Retrieved : 2012-01-17
  4. 1 2 Friar's Bush Retrieved : 2012-01-17
  5. 1 2 3 Glasgow Airport Link] Retrieved : 2012-01-17
  6. ↑ McKay, Page 240
  7. ↑ McKay, Page 242
  8. ↑ Gehealogy Forum Retrieved : 2012-01-17
  9. ↑ Porterfield, Page 36.
  10. ↑ Cholera deaths in Beith
  11. 1 2 Wyllie, Page 19
  12. ↑ Tewkesbury Historical Society Retrieved : 2012-01-17
  13. ↑ Manchester Confidential Retrieved : 2012-01-17
  14. ↑ Flickr Retrieved : 2012-01-17
  15. ↑ Sheffield Cholera monument. Retrieved : 2012-01-17
  16. ↑ RCAHMS Retrieved : 2012-01-17
  17. ↑ RCANMS Retrieved : 2012-01-17
  18. ↑ Adamson, Page 44
  19. ↑ A History of Kilmaurs
  20. ↑ Cardiff Arcade Retrieved : 2012-01-17
  21. ↑ HF School website Retrieved : 2012-01-17
  22. ↑ Genealogy Forum Retrieved : 2012-01-17
  23. ↑ The spirit of occupy Toronto Retrieved : 2012-01-17

Further reading

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