Pesthouse Field

In 1693, prompted by the plague visiting Portsmouth, an isolation hospital was built in one of the communal fields outside the town walls. Henceforth known as Pesthouse Field, in this field the bodies of the many victims were hastily interred. According to William Gates, the graves were so shallow that, ‘they are commonly covered with crows and ravens except when the grave-digger is at work’. This field was situated between Unicorn Road, Commercial Road and the Dockyard wall, an area much in use today.

Strangers not welcome

National events often impacted on the local crime scene in Portsmouth. For example, a number of cases in the court papers for1655-6 concern the plague that was spreading across the country. The Town’s reaction to the threat of disease was to close its gates to prevent potentially infected strangers from visiting. A surviving example of a court record shows that a William White was bound over for entertaining a Londoner without the appropriate permission who subsequently died at White’s house. Sadly such tactics were not successful and the outbreak claimed many local lives. Indeed a rather ominous marginal note states that William did not appear to answer before the court.