The outbreak began in September when a flea-infested bundle of cloth arrived from London for the local tailor. Within a week, the tailor was dead, and more villagers soon began showing symptoms of the bubonic plague. Realizing the potential for a catastrophic regional outbreak, the village rector, William Mompesson, and his predecessor Thomas Stanley made an extraordinary proposition. They persuaded the villagers to quarantine themselves within the boundaries of their village to contain the plag