A new project on a Nottinghamshire village in the 14th century has thrown up an intriguing question : Did the 1348/9 Black Death spread throughout the county? And if so, what is the nature of the evidence at a local level? The standard county histories appear to have very little or nothing beyond the general comment about 30% incidence across the country, with the notable exceptions of Newark and Nottingham. So did it occur everywhere, and how confidently do we know this?

Keith Hodgkinson of East Leake & District Local History society has recently sent an enquiry to all local history societies listed in the NLHA website, asking for evidence of the Black Death in their area. That’s over 100 email enquiries, and the response has been excellent so far and has generated lots of other links and suggestions. So a big thank-you to all those who have responded.

We hope to be able to publish a report on the results in a future edition. In the meantime, Keith says, please keep the replies rolling in!

Keith Hodgkinson khodgkinson@ntlworld.com