Elizabethan Era Sanitation Essay

SANITATION: The sanitation in England in the Elizabethan era was terrible and greatly contributed to the influx of many diseases at the time. This was due partly to the fact that the citizens of England had no concern or motive to improve their polluted living environment. The people of England weren’t aware that their eco-destructive habits were ultimately affecting their health and exposing themselves to diseases.

This was also the main reason the public health of England was in such a poor condition. For example, England’s streets and towns were a breeding ground for disease and germs.

overcrowded due to the overpopulation horse and human excretion on the ground corpses were left to rot on the gallows heads of the executed decaying on

The most common way of getting rid of rubbish was to empty their latines and garbage into cesspits, which were then emptied into middens which is the equivalent of a landfill. Waste was also emptied into streams or rivers, like the River Thames which contaminated the water and lead to epidemics in England.

This contributed to why water was a significant problem in England. There was no running water in houses so citizens would have to obtain water from the public fountain or from water carries. Both of these water sources were pumped in from the rivers, which were highly polluted from the town’s constant disposal of sewage and waste into it. Unlike today, there was no sewage system to organise waste and maintain the quality of water.

TOILETS: Chamber Pots were portable clay bowls that were used by Elizabethans to go to the bathroom in. They were very common during the 1500s because toilets were usually located outside the house. Citizens would empty their chamber pots full of toilet waste, out into the street with people walking by. When people did this they would shout ‘Gardyloo’, derived from the french expression which means ‘mind the water’. Their toilet waste would remain in the streets due to the lack of underground pipes and drainage throughout the towns and allow disease

The average fee for a Doctor would be 10 shillings, which was more than most Elizabethans could afford. The poor had to resort to depending on the assistance of the church for comfort.

TREATMENTS:

Broken bones, fractures and wounds were treated in unhygienic conditions which ultimately caused the injury to become worse

There was no such thing as ‘clean’ surgical instruments, so it was likely the patient’s wound would get infected

The treatment for broken bones would be the doctor physically setting the bones back in place - with their hands

The cure for a toothache was getting the tooth pulled out

There were no forms of anaesthetics for surgeries or bone-setting, which made the procedures excruciatingly painful

During the Black Death, plague doctors would wear a leather mask with a bird-like beak on the nose of it. This was to prevent the doctors from breathing the infected air

Urine and vinegar were used as antiseptics

The most common and attainable medicine for poor and wealthy Elizabethans was mixtures of