If you visit London today, you’ll find places like Gutter Lane or Staining Lane. And other streets have had their names changed, like good old Shiteburn (now Sherborne) Lane.
Where did these weird names come from?
Poop!
Seven-hundred years ago, taking a poop in London wasn’t easy. There were only eight public bathrooms in the whole city! Most people pooped at home in containers called chamber pots. And when the chamber pot was full, they dumped it out the window. Hello, Shiteburn Lane!
That photo is of historian Dan Snow. He is re-creating what a street in London looked like back then. He’s mixing pee, poop, animal guts and mud to get it just right. (No, I’m not kidding!)
A few people had toilets built in their homes. It was a wooden seat with a hole in it. Under the seat was a deep pit that collected the poop called a cesspool. If the house was by the river, the toilet would just vent right into the fresh water.
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| Chamber pots are purty! |
A woman named Alice Wade thought this was a stupid way to live. So she hooked up a pipe from her toilet to a rainwater gutter. The idea was that the pee and poop would flush down into the sewer system.
Good idea! Unfortunately, one of her grumpies blocked the rain gutter, and the pee and poop started building up. And according to a complaint that was filed, the “stench” was horrible!
Finally, in 1357, some new employees were added to the city of London. These included muckrakers (they picked poop up) and gong farmers (they cleaned out cesspits and cesspools).
And you know what? I think that “gong farmer” might be the coolest job title ever!
Top photo by M. Caimary.
Bottom photo by Abulic Monkey,
information from a delightful BBC article.
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