Early modern Britain and the people's health, c.1500-c.1750 - OCR BLiving conditions in early modern Britain - problems in towns

Early modern towns grew quickly. Although this was a minor change compared to later periods, there were still problems with managing waste and pollution in these built-up, crowded areas. Conditions in towns contributed to regular outbreaks of plague.

Waste

Getting rid of human waste was extremely problematic in towns. None of the methods used were safe for people’s health. The methods contributed to outbreaks of dysentery and typhoid (infectious diseases caused by infected food and water).

• Houses backing onto rivers had a privy over the water. These would empty waste directly into the water supply that was used for drinking and washing.
• Most houses used privies built over a cesspit. These could leak into people’s cellars or their neighbour’s cellar.
• Scavengers cleared the cesspits of wealthier people every year or two, carrying barrels of excrement through the house. Poorer people emptied their own and just removed the waste to a dunghill in an alley. These could pile up, polluting the streets.

Household waste was easier to manage. Scavengers collected household waste, such as food and paper, once or twice a week.

Air pollution

Coal mines began to produce more coal during this period. When the price of coal dropped in the 1600s, more people began to use it on their fires. The resulting dust, soot and smoke caused lung diseases and problems with breathing.

Streets and houses

Many towns had not paved their streets and marketplaces, and many of these areas continued to be made from earth or gravel. They were very dusty and became muddy when it rained. Most were covered with animal dung. This made people’s clothes and shoes very dirty.

As in the medieval period, houses in towns were often three storeys tall with overhanging ‘jetties’. This meant there was a lack of natural light and dark streets. Much of the housing was crowded and damp. This contributed to breathing problems as well as diseases that affected the lungs, such as influenza, diphtheria and pneumonia.

Plague

There was a major outbreak of plague approximately every 20 years between 1500 and 1670. Unlike the Black Death, these outbreaks were far more common in the towns, where rats were more numerous. There was still no knowledge about how rats and fleas spread the disease.

The plague could kill over 30 per cent of a community within a year. Only one in five people who caught the plague survived.