Medieval Britain c1200-1500 Page 7

• Medieval towns


  Unhealthy places to live
• Towns attempting to improve public health

  • York
  • London
  • Norwich
  • Winchester
  • Shrewsbury
• York


  1. Banned people from dumping waste in the street

  2. Ordered businesses to move outside the city walls

  3. Built latrines over rivers to carry sewage away

  4. Moved dunghills to the outskirts of the town
• London


  1. Employed rakers to clear rubbish off the streets

  2. Introduced rules about where latrines were allowed to be built

  3. Employed a warden to ensure streets and banks of the Thames were free of filth

  4. Closed the public baths during an outbreak of plague

  5. Butchers' guild built an underground passage to carry waste to the Thames
• Norwich


  Publicly named and shamed citizens for polluting water and dumping waste
• Winchester


  Employed people to check the quality of all meat before it was sold
• Shrewsbury


  Raised money from richer inhabitants to pave the marketplace
• Approaches to public health in towns

  Medieval towns were unhealthy places to live. However, it would be wrong to suggest that medieval town authorities did not care about public health. There are many examples of town councils or guilds trying to improve the environment, even before the Black Death hit.