Plague cross

Daniel Defoe reported, at the time of the Great Plague in 1665, that the Lord Mayor of London, in his regulations, stated:[2]"That every house visited [by the disease] be marked with a red cross of a foot long in the middle of the door, evident to be seen, and with these usual printed words, that is to say, "Lord, have mercy upon us," to be set close over the same cross, there to continue until lawful opening of the same house."

About the same time, Samuel Pepys wrote on 7 June 1665:[3]"I did in Drury-lane see two or three houses marked with a red cross upon the doors, and "Lord have mercy upon us" writ there - which was a sad sight to me, being the first of that kind that to my remembrance I ever saw.

"[4] At York, stone crosses were erected during an outbreak of plague in 1604, on main roads about one mile outside the city, to denote temporary locations where trading could take place.

There, each cross held a small pool of water into which money was placed and from which it could be removed in trading.

[7] In Germany, stone crosses or Pestkreuze were also set up in some locations to commemorate those who died as a result of the plague.