Illustrations of history

763 readers

32 users here now

This magazine is for sharing artwork of historical events, places, personages, etc. Scale models and the like also welcome!

Generally speaking, actual photos of a historical item should go to [email protected]

Photos of ruins should go to [email protected]

Photos of the past should go to [email protected]

founded 6 months ago

MODERATORS

PugJesus

161

Two types of Medieval castle latrines (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 months ago by PugJesus to c/historyillustrations

37 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] JakJak98 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Cesspits were cleaned out by tradesmen known in the UK as gongfermors using shovels and horse-drawn wagons. Cesspools were cleaned only at night, to reduce the smell and annoyance to the public. The typical cesspit was cleaned out once every 8 to 10 years.

[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I wonder if they used it as fertilizer or just dumped it somewhere.

[–] Duamerthrax 2 points 4 months ago

Not that they had health codes or even germs theory, it's a really bad idea to use human waste as fertilizer. At least not without proper composting. Again, not really sure they would know that. I presume that any groups that tried it either realized not to do it quickly and wrote rules against it or died off.

Fun observation. Consider how many Jewish rules have a sanitation effect. They might now have completely understood what was happening, but they could see the effects of good food inspection and regular bathing.