Living conditons

Food

The rich

• The rich ate large quantities of meat including beef, veal, mutton, lamb, pork, chicken, goose, rabbit, pigeon and small birds

• Fish was a religious custom of Fridays

• Small quantities of salad, fruit and vegetables were eaten

• They drank wine, ale, beer and mead as water could make them ill

• Their diet was unbalances and mostly meat

The poor

• Bread and vegetables and eggs were commonly eaten

• Cheese, fish and meat were eaten as occasional treats

• Pottage was common

Towns

• Animals were on the streets; cattle geese, sheep herded onto streets to be sold or slaughtered

• Loose dog excrement contained parasites which spread to humans

• Mouse and rat issues could not be controlled by the cats

• Streets were beaten earth which turned to dust in summer and mud in winter

• Some streets were paved with coble stone covered in animal dung

• People heated homes and cooked with open fires

• In the 16th century the prices of coal dropped due to the bad smell that it gave off so in the 17th century, more people began to burn it, causing dust, smoke and soot to cause respiratory issues

• Houses were often a single room wide and three stories tall with some overhanging jetties on the top story

• Many houses were overcrowded with poor families squashed into cellars and upper stories

• People shared beds

• Houses were poorly constructed making them draught and damp

• People suffered from respiratory diseases and pathogens spread quickly between people as a result

Water

• The rich may have had access to a bathtub, servants and a water source, enough firewood and the time required to wash however this was not the case for the poor

• Soap made of olive oil was only affordable for the rich and the soap made for animal fat used for clothes was not suitable for skin

• Water had to be paid for to be piped to your house

• People accessed water through water sellers, wells and conduits

Waste

• Rakers collected household waste from outside of people's houses and sold urban waste to marked gardeners outside of towns

• Cesspits collected human waste underground

• Dunghills were excrements from poorer people emptying their cesspits

Hugh Middleton - Built a 'new river; in 1609 to bring water 38 miles from the countryside to supply 30,000 houses

Sir John Harrington - Invented the first flushing toilet in 1596