The new 'Stay Safe' messages installed at the entrances to some Brigg town centre courtyards are a reminder of grim periods in the past.
There were outbreaks of typhoid in some of the crowded courtyards at various times during the 19th century.
That was when most of Brigg's poorer families lived in small cottages and before piped spring water was provided from the St Helen's Well in Wrawby.
Today's local government term 'house in multiple occupation' applied to many of these Brigg dwellings in the 19th century with lodging being widespread.
Public health was not helped by livestock being kept in courtyards, with cases of swine fever and foot and mouth disease being investigated by local officials.
Brigg was only a small settlement in the 14th century when the Black Death plague ravaged the UK, including the Lindsey area of Lincolnshire.