By 26 September 1665, the Great Plague of London had reached its most devastating point, with an astonishing 7,165 deaths reported in the previous seven days alone.
The once-bustling city was now a desolate landscape, with the air thick with fear and the streets nearly deserted as Londoners sought refuge from the deadly miasma believed to carry the disease.
Bells of the churches tolled endlessly, mourning the relentless death that crept through the city, sparing neither rich nor poor. Corpses were hastily buried in mass graves as the living, terrified of contagion, isolated themselves behind barricaded doors.
The heart of the metropolis was silenced by an unseen enemy that swept through homes and families, a grim reminder of the fragility of life in the face of nature's wrath.
