In 1840 Dr Rawson published ‘An Inquiry into the History and Influence of the Lichfield Waters: intended to show the Necessity of an Immediate and Final Drainage of the Pools’. The work was originally anonymous according to medical journal The Lancet.

According to the Lancet, Dr Rawson “contends that the stagnant pools around Lichfield are injurious to the health of the inhabitants, and urges several reasons for draining, and filling them up. This is objected to by certain lovers of the picturesque; and by another very opposite class of persons, who button up their breeches-pockets very closely, that the money may fructify there,when a call is made upon them for any public purpose”.

Part of Dr Rawson’s argument was that during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Lichfield suffered five or six plagues. Although the whole of England had been affected, Dr Rawson argued that the effects in Lichfield were disproportionate for its size.

The doctor used statistics quoted in ‘ Harwood’s History,’ to produce the following table:

Statistics of the Plague in Lichfield, in 1645-6.

NORTH TOWN.

Beacon-street, Gaia-lane, Shaw-lane, Close, value £8.—Chiefly on ridge land, and all well ventilated, except the vicarage. The Close ditch was drained in 1643, and part of Beacon-street burned down, during the plague.

SOUTH TOWN.

Market-street, value £4 18s 4d; deaths 38; per cent. 18.—Defended by domestic comforts.

Dam-street, Butcher-row, Tamworthstreet, Boar-street, the Woman’s Chyping, value £4 14s 8d ; deaths 200; per cent. 16. —Exposed to external ventilation, except one side of Butcher-row; but partly adjoining the most infected districts, and containing a common channel, with stagnant water in it.

Stow-street, Lombard-street, Bird-street, Sandford-street, value £4 2s 7d; deaths 282; per cent. 41.—The extreme parts, small houses close to the pools. Bird-street, in the centre, being so narrow, that it has since been widened by act of Parliament.

Green-hill, George-lane, St. John-street, Frog-lane, Wade-street, value £3 13s 7d; deaths 321; per cent. 47.—Partly intersected by the Common Ditch and Common Muck-hill of the town, parallel to, but under the level of which were Frog-lane and Wade-street, while John-street was hemmed in between these and the Bishop’s Marsh.”

Statistics wise 51 per cent of Lichfield’s population died of plague in 1593-4, and 32 per cent, in 1645-6.

So, yet another miserable subject I’m sorry. I’ll try and find something a little more cheerful for next time……

There may be a deserted medieval village at Freeford, (Fraiforde in the Domesday Book).  Evidence consists of surface finds of pottery ranging from 12th – 16th century together with some documentary references in 1334 and 1377 in the form of taxation records.

By the mid 13th century, there was a lepers hospital at Freeford on the site of the present day Freeford House (on the Tamworth Rd, before the junction with Ryknild St). Some of the exisiting masonry on the site is thought to part of the hospital chapel’s foundations. According to Thomas Harwood,  ‘A corner of the field, north-east of the present house yet bears the name ‘Chapel Yard’ and human bones are frequently cast up in this spot by the plough’.  The hospital was united with St John’s Hospital in Lichfield in 1496   Apparently institutions relating to lepers were often dedicated to either St John or St Leonard. 

English Heritage report that some 80 human skeletons were discovered near to the site during excavations for a road widening scheme in December 1917. These remains were buried around 3ft deep, all without coffins and on the whole, in a Christian orientation. A chalice and paten (small plate) were found in the the hands of one of the skeltons.  I understand that it was the custom to bury these items with a priest. The chalice and paten are thought to be from around the 12th or 13th centuries, if not earlier. More bones were discovered in 1969, during the construction of another road.

I wonder what happened to the skeletons – have they been reburied elsewhere?  Are there anymore under the fields of Freeford? 

Sources:
The Hisotry & Antiquities of the Church & City of Lichfield – Rev Thomas Harwood (1806)

English Heritage Pastscape Record 306532

The wikipedia definition of a deserted medieval village (DMV) is a former settlement which was abandoned during the Middle Ages (around 500AD to 1500AD), typically leaving no trace apart from earthworks or cropmarks.
Several potential DMVs are thought to be in Lichfield and the surrounding area (there are over 100 for Staffordshire as a whole).
Here is selection from the Staffordshire HER. 
Tamhorn Deserted Settlement, Fisherwick
Curborough
Littlebeech, Lichfield (Saxon, mentioned in Domesday)
Farewell
Horton, Fisherwick
Stychbrook
Elford
Swinfen
Freeford
Abbots Bromley
I hope to have a look at these in more detail and to post updates shortly!