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Ring a-ring o' roses,
A pocketful of posies.
a-tishoo!, a-tishoo!.
We all fall down.
And this is the "Posy tree"
Small cache box with log book, need own pen.
This is a cache and dash. Beware of nettles
Ring a Ring o' Roses, The Posy Tree, Mapperton, Dorset
The pollarded sycamore tree, known locally as 'The Posy Tree' marks the spot as a grisly reminder of when eighty plague victims were collected and later buried at nearby South Warren Hill in 1582.
In the early summer of 1348, The Black Death, carried by ships from Bordeaux, arrived in England at Melcombe, Dorset (now part of Weymouth), at the time a seaport of considerable importance. From there it spread rapidly in all directions by road and waterway, reaching London by September, central England by the end of the year, and the north by spring 1349.
Rural communities were particularly badly affected, with case fatalities of 50-60% or more, depending on occupation and social class. Priests, whose job it was to comfort the sick, were particularly vulnerable, as were the poorest farm labourers. Assuming that the notice on the stump of an oak tree refers to the 14th century outbreak, the hamlet of Mapperton, roughly 25 miles from Weymouth, would have been quickly devastated. What then is one to make of the posy tree?
Boccaccio, in Florence at the time of the plague, wrote in the Decameron: ‘Instead of incarcerating themselves, these people moved about freely, holding in their hands a posy of flowers, or fragrant herbs, or one of a wide range of spices, which they applied at frequent intervals to their nostrils, thinking it an excellent idea to fortify the brain with smells of that particular sort; for the stench of dead bodies, sickness, and medicines seemed to fill and pollute the whole of the atmosphere.’
But posies had an additional function of protection: they were worn around the neck, on the wrists, and over the left breast to shield the heart (heartbags), and were made up of sweet-smelling plants together with aromatic herbs thought to prevent infection. Ingredients included camphor, laurel, rosemary, aloes, rose water and peppermint; Nohl (The Black Death. A Chronicle of the Plague Compiled from Contemporary Sources) lists nearly thirty different ‘essences’. Physicians were nicknamed ‘beak doctors’ because they wore masks with a long beak containing sponges soaked in vinegar and aromatic herbs: ‘Their caps with glasses are designed/Their bills with antidotes all lined/That foulsome air may do no harm …’
What is left of the posy tree at Mapperton suggests that it was not some form of protective plant. Perhaps it was hung with posies to protect against the miasma? Or did it simply act like a present-day traffic sign, warning those who still survived that they were entering dangerous territory? Apart from the beautiful Jacobean manor house and gardens, there is now no other sign of habitation.
Small cache box with log book, need own pen.
This is a cache and dash. Beware of nettles
Ring a-ring o' roses,
A pocketful of posies.
a-tishoo!, a-tishoo!.
We all fall down.
Picking up the roses,
picking up the roses,
Atishoo!, Atishoo!
We all jump up.
Picking up the daises,
picking up the daises,
Atishoo!, Atishoo!
We all jump up.
Ashes in the water,
Ashes in the sea,
We all jump up
With a one-two-three.
The King has sent his daughter,
To fetch a pail of water.
ah-tishoo, ah-tishoo.
We all fall down.
The bird up on the steeple,
Sits high above the people.
ah-tishoo, ah-tishoo.
We all fall down.
The cows are in the meadow,
Eating buttercups,
ah-tishoo, ah-tishoo.
they all jump up.
Fishes in the water,
Fishes in the sea,
We all jump up,
With a one, two, three!
Down at the bottom of the deep blue sea,
How many fishes can you see,
With a one, a two, a three!
Sitting at the bottom of the deep blue sea,
Catching fishes, for my tea!
We all jump up,
With a one, two, three!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Vafvqr gur gerr.