'Pest house' (isolation hospital in times of plague), Tothill Fields, Westminster, London. Lithograph, c. 1840.
Item
Title
'Pest house' (isolation hospital in times of plague), Tothill Fields, Westminster, London. Lithograph, c. 1840.
Description
Tothill was a vantage point around the site of Westminster Abbey. A permanent 'pest-house' was established there in 1638; it was also known as 'the sheds'. When the great plague truly bit in, the area around it became a burial ground for the plague dead when graveyards overflowed. As such it became a feared place: the ground could not be consecrated under church law.
Date
1840
Source
Wellcome Library
Contributor
Viar, Anastasia
Bibliographic Citation
Lithograph, 16.3 x 20.3 (cm), Tothill Fields.