England 2026 - Plague Village

When I excavate at Vindolanda there is that pesky in between weekend where they require us to put down the tools and rest.  It is usually the occasion for our little band to do some sort of interesting road trips.  This year the Saturday road trip started here:

Welcome to Throckrington.  The ancient church and an adjacent farm is everything that is above ground.  It is a plague village, a community of the dead.

Evidently it used to be a thriving place.  But in 1847 a sailor returned home....with cholera.  There were so many deaths that the village was abandoned, its structures burned to the ground.  Today it is a wind swept, lonely place.

Some of the tombstones make me think it may have been a bit peculiar even back in the day.

And....

If you squint through the lichens it says:

In Memory of ISABLE Wife of 

JACOB COOK, who died

May the 11th 1814 aged 75 years

Also JACOB COOK who died on 

the 9th of March 1817, in the 78 year of his age

For more than fifty years he was

deeply acquainted with experimental

relegion.  He lived a holy and un use

ful life, and died a happy and triumph

ant Death.  

(It does go on to list various other members of the Cook family, squeezing some grand kids in right down at the hard to read bottom edge).

Another notable burial in the place is Lord Beveridge.  At first glance I thought it was Lord Beverage, which would be interesting. I might have been thinking of a later stop on our itinerary.

Lord Beveridge of Tuggal is a pretty recent addition to the graveyard.  He is said to be one of the architects of the modern British welfare state.  I'd say he was lucky to have gotten into hallowed ground, as he described himself as a "materialistic agnostic", and dabbled in Eugenics.  He also - along with Albert Einstein - was part of a People's World Convention that post war was proposing to draft a Constitution for the Federation of Earth.  Rather Trekky.....

It was a busy Saturday, and I'll have to save the strange antiques market and Mad Sufferegette for another day.  But we ended it in style, with a visit to the brewery and tap room of the First and Last Brewery.  They make the Best Bitter that I enjoyed frequently at The Bowes.  Mmmmm for now all I can do is remember a pint of Reiver after a dusty day of digging.....