Medieval Britain 1250-1500

• 90% of the uk population lived in the countryside.
• Quality of life depended on social status.
• housing, water and food was good
• The poor mostly ate bread.
• The poor ate bread made of made of rye, which often contained a fungus that lead to illness and death.
• A poor harvest often lead to starvation.
• The church did not allow people to eat meat on Friday, so they would eat fish instead.
• The rich could afford to eat cheese, nuts, eggs, fruits and meats.
• Pottage is a thick vegetable soup eaten by the medival pesents.
• Ale and cider was common, this is positive as the brewing process killed bacteria.
• Lords often lived in large manor houses
• Peasants lived in small houses called huts, which were made of wood and mud.
• Animals where often kept in the houses/huts with the people.
• There where often open fires in the houses, smoke was able to escape through thached roofs.
• Windows where small and had wooden shutters not glass.
• (In towns) houses where built close together in the centre of towns
• (In towns) Workshops of traidspeople where often apart of the houses.
• (In towns) People where expected to look after and clean their drains and front yards, but many didn't.
• (In towns) conduits were built to carry water from the river to the town through lead pipes
• (In towns) Water sellers sold water out of leather sacks to houses.
• (In towns) Public latrines where made in market squares
• (In towns) Rakers had the job of cleaning waste from towns
• (In towns and countryside) Gongfermors cleaned cesspits and took the waste to outside the town often for fertiliser.