IT is a little-known reminder of one of the darkest moments in York’s history, when the city was in the grip of the Plague.

Diseased city residents used to leave money at the Burton Stone to pay for food grown by villagers in Clifton.

Cups were carved in the stone which were filled with vinegar, and coins placed in the liquid to reduce the risk of passing on the deadly disease.

After the city residents had left the scene, villagers would remove the coins and leave food by the stone.

The stone was later named after the local Burton family, and then the street, Burton Stone Lane, was named after the stone. However, little is known of the stone’s existence by most residents.

A campaign group now wants to change all that by putting up a plaque on the stone to explain its part in history.

However, it first needs to raise funds towards the £600 cost of creating and installing the plaque.

Les Marsh, chairman of the Clifton Planning Panel, which originally came up with the idea, said that City of York Council had already given £300 to the Burton Stone Plaque Group – a sub-committee of the panel – but another £300 was still needed.

He said there were originally four such stones at different entrances to the city but the Burton Stone, situated outside the Burton Stone pub, was the only one still in existence.

“One on Hob Moor is completely unrecognisable and the other two, which were at Heworth and Fulford, have long since disappeared,” he said.

“The stone is believed to have been the base of a cross before the 16th century, but when the Plague hit York in the 17th century, cups were carved in it, into which vinegar was poured,” he said.

“Not many know about it but it’s an important part of York’s history which we think should be recognised with a plaque. A third of York’s citizens died during the Plague and the stone played a big part in the city’s need for sustenance, but it’s been forgotten.”

* Anyone wanting to make a donation should either send cheques, payable to the Burton Stone Plaque Group, to Alan Rose, 50, Burton Stone Lane, York, or place cash donations into a collection box at Tony Neary’s butchers shop at Clifton Green.