Fragments of tiles and bricks turned up from time to time in fields near Chrishall are reminders that the village once stood further up the hill than it does today. According to a tradition, 500-600 years ago Old Chrishall was completely destroyed by fire, the result either of an accident or a deliberate attempt to rid the village of plague.
This tradition was recalled in 1954 by members of the Women’s Institute, at which time it was still said locally that the plague victims were buried together in a communal grave and that on no account must that part of the churchyard ever be opened. The consequences are implied, rather than stated: stories of “letting out the plague’ attached to several churchyards in both Britain and on the Continent, were born of fear of releasing the buried infection. This was thought to affect the soil – at Cockfield, Suffolk this was supposed to be the reason why primroses would not grow there.
According to some local residents, the plague pit is just inside the churchyard gate, on the right of the path; according to others, it is near the vicarage drive.