Sanitation in Urban Britain, 1560–1700

Downloaded by [New York University] at 21:08 20 August 2016 Sanitation in Urban Britain, 1560–1700 Popular belief holds that throwing the contents of a chamber pot into the street was a common occurrence during the early modern period. This book challenges this deeply entrenched stereotypical image as the majority of urban inhabitants and their local governors alike valued clean outdoor public spaces, vesting interest in keeping the areas in which they lived and worked clean. Taking an extensive tour of over thirty towns and cities across early modern Britain, focusing on Edinburgh and York as in-depth case studies, this book sheds light on the complex relationship between how governors organized street cleaning, managed waste disposal and regulated the cleanliness of the outdoor environment, top-down, and how typical urban inhabitants self-regulated their neighbourhoods, bottom-up. The urban-rural manure trade, sanitation infrastructure, waste-disposal technology, plague epidemics, contemporary understandings of malodours and miasmatic disease transmission and urban agriculture are also analysed. This book will enable undergraduates, postgraduates and established academics to deepen their understanding of daily life and sensory experiences in the early modern British town. This innovative work will appeal to social, cultural and legal historians as well as researchers of history of medicine and public health. Leona J. Skelton is Post-Doctoral Research Assistant in the History Department at University of Bristol, UK. 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Skelton Downloaded by [New York University] at 21:08 20 August 2016 First published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2016 Leona J. Skelton The right of Leona J. Skelton to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Skelton, Leona J., author. Sanitation in urban Britain, 1560-1700 / Leona J. Skelton. 1. Sanitation--Great Britain--History--16th century. 2. Sanitation--Great Britain--History--17th century. 3. Public health--Great Britain--History-- 16th century. 4. Public health--Great Britain--History--17th century. I. Title. RA485.S536 2016 363.720941--dc23 2015029600 ISBN: 978-1-8489-3592-1 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-62075-6 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Saxon Graphics Ltd, Derby Downloaded by [New York University] at 21:08 20 August 2016 Dedicated to the memory of Prof. Christopher W. Brooks (1948–2014) My brilliant PhD supervisor who died before he could see this work in print Downloaded by [New York University] at 21:08 20 August 2016 This page intentionally left blank Downloaded by [New York University] at 21:08 20 August 2016 Contents List of figures xi Acknowledgements xiii Conventions xv English and Scots glossary xvii Introduction 1 The ‘chamber pot in the window’: myth or reality? 1 Contemporary literature 5 Historiographical progress in the field 9 The project 12 Notes 15 1 The character of the environmental challenge 20 Introduction 20 Domestic waste, drainage systems and the built infrastructure 21 Privies, chamber pots and Sir John Harrington’s water closet 27 Malodorous trades 33 Natural or divine causes? Plague and the meaning of smell 36 Urban agriculture and the urban-rural manure trade 41 Conclusion 46 Notes 48 Downloaded by [New York University] at 21:08 20 August 2016 2 York’s and Edinburgh’s sanitation in national, demographic, legal and governmental context 54 Introduction 54 Part 1: York’s sanitation in context 56 Part 2: Edinburgh’s sanitation in context 66 Conclusion 74 Notes 75 x Contents 3 Civic-funded sanitation services: waste disposal, street cleaning and drainage 79 Introduction 79 English towns and Scottish burghs 80 York 90 Edinburgh 111 Conclusion 130 Notes 132 4 Regulating insanitary nuisances 138 Introduction 138 English towns 140 York 143 Edinburgh 149 Conclusion 162 Notes 163 Conclusion 166 Notes 178 Works cited 179 Index 194 Downloaded by [New York University] at 21:08 20 August 2016 Figures 1 Paving in Dartmouth,

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