1. Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire
What do you notice?
Medieval London
Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire

2. 1. Butchers were put in the pillory for selling rotten meat
1. Butchers were put in the pillory for selling rotten meat. The meat was burnt in front of them
2. Medieval towns were built near rivers or water for drinking and transport but it was also used to take away their waste and sewage
3. By the 1830s there were at least 13 toilets (public privies) in the city. One was built over the Thames. Sometimes people left money in their wills for these to be built
4. In 1298 King Edward I complained that unhygienic conditions threatened his army and so the council built public latrines
5. House owners living next to streams built toilets over the streams
6. In Worcester in 1466, a law said the insides and blood of butchered animals had to be carried away the same night to try and cut down pollution
– Thomas Scott was fined for hitting two people who complained when he urinated in a street
8. People had no idea about germs but they did think that disease was spread by “bad air” and they were keen to remove bad smells
– Parliament passed a law that fined people £20 for throwing dung and entrails in rwater supplies. However this was hard to regulate
10. Monasteries had toilets or privies and these sometimes contained potties to collect urine (used to tan/bleach cloth)
11. In 1345 – the fine for throwing litter in the street was 2 shillings. In 1372 anyone with filth outside their house could be charged 4 shillings
12. In 1371 The London Mayor tried to make the city healthier by banning the killing of large animals within the city walls
– 4 women butchers were caught throwing rotten blood and offal in the street
14. In 1330 Glamorgan council passed a law to stop butchers throwing waste in the streets
15. Wide streets had two gutters, one at each side. Narrow streets had one gutter in the middle
16. In 1374, the London Local Council started charging fees for people who dumped waste in Walbrook stream. The money was used to clean the stream each year
17. Christian monasteries were often built isolated but near a water supply. Most monasteries had excellent wash facilities which were done in a lavatorium (waste water was dumped in a river)
18. Butchers threw their waste of blood and guts in the river
19. The toilets were empties in a pit and the dirt was taken away and used as manure. Local river water was sometimes used to flush out privies and cesspits
20. Houses away from streams sometimes had their own toilets with cesspits underneath to collect the waste but these were expensive to build (£4)
21. There were open sewers carrying refuse to the river. Cesspits would be dug out and used for manure once a year by “gong farmers”
– butchers were ordered use a separate area to butcher animals
23. Monks had to keep clean for religion and were ordered to bathe. Some monks had a bath once a month and others twice a year
24. By the 1370s there were at least 12 teams of rakers with horses and carts, removing dung from the streets
25. Monks were educated and disciplined. They had the ancient Roman and Greek medical books and so they used their sanitation ideas
26. Wells and cesspools for dumping sewage were often close together. Laws tried to insist that they were built apart
27. Monasteries had bathhouses that were connected to drainage systems. Monks washed their clothes regularly
– two women arrested for throwing rubbish in the street
29. Monasteries and abbeys had lots of wealth from public donations for prayers and their production of wool. This wealth helped their sanitation facilities
30. In general, monasteries had better conditions because of their good health facilities, their isolation , their knowledge and their discipline