The Cholera Pit The Epidermics of 1832 and 1833 “That destructive calamity” When looking at this large open space how many people realise what this piece of land really is? Look more closely and you will see this grassy plot is marked by a small plane cross bearing the words cholera 1832 – 1833 there are no names marked anywhere but the space is, in fact, the resting place of many of the victims of the outbreak of this dreadful disease which killed over 200 people. Some were buried in other parts of the island but most will living in Douglas. It is thought that they were approximately 120 victims in total buried in st. George’s. 10 burials were recorded in St. George’s burial register on the 30th of August 1833 alone. This disease was almost certainly the result of poor quality of the water supply and was highly contagious. The Isle of Man Weekly Times reported that the cholera “baffled all medical skill; many in good health in the morning were interred in the same evening” The beds and clothes of those who died were burned. The dead were wrapped in tarred sheets – no coffins – and buried immediately. At night in St. George’s churchyard the burials took place by dim lanterns, hand-held or suspended from the trees, the body’s heaped in one after the other. Feel free to make any comments either on this website by clicking the “Leave a comment” above or by logging onto my Facebook Page enjoy – Click on the image for a larger view.
Tag: St George’s Church
A Celtic Cross
Loving the intricate interlaced artwork on this beautiful Celtic Cross in St Georges Church Yard in Douglas. I like it because it’s almost 3D Feel free to make any comments either on this website by clicking the ‘Leave a Comment’ text in this post above or by logging onto my Facebook Page enjoy – Click on the image for a larger view.
St Georges Church – Douglas
This beautiful Church is the oldest Church in Douglas and was completed in 1781 – Here is a night time image. The Church also contains a beautiful stained glass window which was donated by Henry Bloom Noble. The image was captured on my Nikon D80 DSLR with a Nikon 18-105 F3.5/5.6 G AFS DX lens, cropped and resized in Adobe Photoshop CS5. Feel free to make any comments either on this website by clicking the “Write comment” below or by logging onto my Facebook page www.facebook.com/manxscenes Click on the image for a larger view.
St George’s Church – Douglas
Whilst out on a shout tonight and on my way home I stopped to grab an image of St George’s Church in Douglas whilst this beautiful building was lit up with sodium lights. St George’s Church was completed in 1781 and is the oldest standing church in Douglas. The image was captured on my Fuji X10 camera, resized and cropped in Adobe Photoshop CS5. Click on the image for a larger view!