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blackplaques.bsky.social
Black Plaques
@blackplaques.bsky.social
260 followers 580 following 27 posts
Memorials to Misadventure; Black Plaques® lift the carefully-placed rug to discover an awkward stain. London book out now.
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blackplaques.bsky.social
public service announcement: it's St John's Eve so horny dragons are planning to Spermatize in your water supply which is considered suboptimal
an extract from John Brand's 1810 'Popular Antiquities' which describes how on midsummer's eve 'in ancient times', people lit bonfires to dissuade lusty dragons from ejaculating in the wells and fountains, thus causing 'grievous distemper' or death.
June 23, 2025 at 2:32 PM
blackplaques.bsky.social
Nice bed head oh hang on
18th century engraving of a man reclining on a bed stark bollock naked with his penis on show
February 25, 2025 at 9:08 PM
blackplaques.bsky.social
**New Entry** (or rather, Exit) this week in 1728: LOOSENESS
London's Bill of Mortality for this week in 1728 including 1 death from Bleeding, 2 from French Pox, 2 from Grief, 1 from Looseness, 5 were Suddenly, and 5 from Worms.
February 24, 2025 at 9:41 PM
blackplaques.bsky.social
She Was Very Fond of Sausages
(London, 1894)
Victorian drawing of a well dressed lady about to attack a butcher's shop with her umbrella. The headline reads: 'She was very fond of sausages'.
February 23, 2025 at 10:58 PM
blackplaques.bsky.social
Spoiler: it's Italian opera.
Title page of a book published in 1728: Plain Reasons for the Growth of Sodomy in England
January 21, 2025 at 2:19 PM
blackplaques.bsky.social
oh to hear Victorians shouting for their dogs
Newspaper clipping from 1833 which reads: "Dog strayed, on Wednesday the 8th instant, A black greyhound bitch – answers to the name of SLUT. She has a white breast; top of the tail white; the toes on all the feet white, with some grey hairs over the body."
December 19, 2024 at 4:29 PM
blackplaques.bsky.social
Text from Samuel Pepys' diary, Dec 16 1665: 'Thence back, and landing at the Old Swan and taking boat again at Billingsgate and setting ashore at home; and I, lying down close in my boat, and there, without use of my hand, had great pleasure, and the first time I did make trial of my strength of fancy of that kind without my hand, and had it complete avec la fille que I did see aujourdui in Westminster Hall'
December 16, 2024 at 7:54 PM
blackplaques.bsky.social
"She was nude, and was tampering with the levers"
A newspaper report of 1925 explaining that the girl had a peculiar mania for driving locomotive engines and this was her second such exploit. No explanation is offered for her nude condition.
December 12, 2024 at 4:01 PM
blackplaques.bsky.social
Demented Nude Girl's Extraordinary Adventure – Middlesbrough, 1925
(British Newspaper Archive)
Three pictures showing the adventures of a naked young lady illicitly driving a steam locomotive. They are titled: The naked girl drove the engine into some wagons, The police boarded the engine, and they wrapped her in a coat.
December 12, 2024 at 4:01 PM
blackplaques.bsky.social
Putting #Worcester on the map with musings from the Gents lavatory, 1940. Pic: @massobsarchive.bsky.social
A transcription of some graffiti spotted in a gents toilet in Worcester, 1940 which says: "A wank a day keeps the pox doctor away" as well as "All boys are the same, except the 'Daily Wanker and Tosser'" with what looks like a 1 pence coin or symbol. There is also a primitive illustration of a cock and balls to accompany it.
November 27, 2024 at 5:05 PM
blackplaques.bsky.social
Toby the Sapient pig doing the numbers for the Dept for International Trade on Whitehall or was that 1785
A coloured print from 1785 showing Toby the Sapient pig picking from a row of cards on the instructions of his keeper, surrounded by an audience of (fee paying) spectators. The spectacle was housed in a building opposite Horse Guards on Whitehall. A building housing The Department for International Trade opposite Horse Guards on Whitehall, London
November 27, 2024 at 1:12 PM
blackplaques.bsky.social
We interrupt your joyscrolling to bring you a turnip
An engraved illustration from 1820 showing a multi-limbed 'turnip' with an enigmatically smiling face and leaves like bouffant hair. Accompanying text (not shown) explains that this example of the mildly peppery but sweet tasting root vegetable was dug up in Germany in 1628.
November 22, 2024 at 12:36 PM
blackplaques.bsky.social
Anyone given this a go? #WhoopingCough #Pertussis
An 18th century cure for chin-cough. Take a spoonful of woodlice, bruise them, mix them with breast milk and take them three or four mornings according as you find benefit.
November 12, 2024 at 9:57 AM
blackplaques.bsky.social
Men – what’s stopping you from doing this?
Text from an 1833 medical book on The Testicle, describing a demonstration by a man who could raise and lower each spud independently.
January 10, 2024 at 10:36 AM
blackplaques.bsky.social
If you're looking for somewhere historic to stay in London, South Place Hotel in Moorgate stands on the site of the Wonder-Worker butt plug factory
A photograph of South Place Hotel in Moorgate, London A 1920s advertisement for the Wonder Worker - a medical device for inserting in the rectum with "no discomfort or unpleasantness" and which "no man or woman should be without."
October 19, 2023 at 7:24 PM
blackplaques.bsky.social
Happy Pepys "six or seven small and great farts" day to all who observe 🥳🥳🥳 #OTD 1663
Extract from the diary of Samuel Pepys, 1663 describing his difficulties with constipation and how a coach journey prompted a sustained sequence of farts, and some temporary relief.
October 7, 2023 at 9:57 AM
blackplaques.bsky.social
Hot feet? Sorted ⬇️
To cure hot feet (according to a remedy of 1653) soak them in stale urine in which snails have been boiled.
October 5, 2023 at 10:23 PM
blackplaques.bsky.social
The long lost verse from The House Of The Rising Sun 🎵
A newspaper report from 1721 that reads: "There is a house of sodomites discovered in Leicester Square."
October 2, 2023 at 9:44 PM
blackplaques.bsky.social
With apologies to those Notting Hill residents whose fabulous homes turn out to be where a Victorian surgeon meddled with ladies' twit-twots.
uk.bookshop.org/p/books/blac...
Picture of Black Plaques London book for sale on bookshop.org
September 19, 2023 at 6:14 PM