The Great Plague certainly did occur outside London. There are records of it appearing in Southampton and Portsmouth, and in the area around the Kent ports - the theory being that it was brought in by fleas on rats aboard boats arriving from Holland where their outbreak of Plague pre-dated ours. Other places were also affected and there was a TV programme a couple of years back about Eyam in Derbyshire which voluntarily quarantined itself when the Plague appeared there and 80% of the villagers died. If I remember rightly, the Plague was said to have arrived at Eyam when a bundle of flea-infested clothes arrived from London. One of the reasons for the spread outside London lay in the fact that the "Quality" moved out of London when the Plague was first discovered. The King's Court went to Hampton Court, those who had Country estates moved there and most of the clergy and surgeons left the area as well and took their families and entourages with them. I expect that a good few ordinary Londoners also left the area before the City gates were closed. It took just one flea to travel with them to spread the Plague. I have never seen a map showing the complete distribution of the Plague from 1664 to 1666, but it would be interesting to see one. Has the Plague died out completely? I seem to remember news reports of individual cases of Bubonic Plague from time-to-time. Wasn't the last one somewhere in America? Best wishes Marion Woolgar Bognor Regis, West Sussex

On Sun, 16 Dec 2007 11:58:41 -0000 "Marion Woolgar" <woolgar@one-name.org> wrote: Hello Marion, > One of the reasons for the spread outside London lay in the fact that Another reason for the spread being that people killed cats and dogs, as they were thought to carry the plague. Obviously, they were killing the very creatures that could help reduce the rat population. -- Regards _ / ) "The blindingly obvious is / _)rad never immediately apparent" This disease is catching Into The Valley - Skids