The environment
Nantwich has not always been as pleasant or as safe a place to live in as it is today.
It has suffered flooding of the River Weaver frequently over the years. In the flooding of 1574, 24 houses were lost alongside the river and a further 12 townhouses as well as the town’s wooden bridge.
Nantwich had no direct fresh water supply to houses until at least the 18th Century. Householders had to go to public water wells or pipes in and around the town with jugs or buckets to collect water for their house. Drinking water was not as clean as today’s supply and in 1651 Edward Rogers fell into and drowned in the Town Well, so this well could not be used for some time after that!.
The poor water quality was the cause of outbreaks of cholera and typhus fever over the years. Locally brewed ale was drunk instead of water, as it was safer.
Usually, houses did not have their own toilets so separate shared ones had to be used. Night soil men went around at night with their carts emptying these toilets and then dumping the collected material near Snow Hill. Open drains ran down the streets, for example Frog Gullet on Welsh Row which wasn’t closed in until 1865. Cattle and horses relieving themselves whilst being driven through town would also have added to the general foul smell in the air. All of this would have ended up in the River Weaver. The main slaughterhouse was in the ‘Shambles’ in the centre of town. Drainage in the streets was poor. A woman even drowned after falling face down in the streets having drunk too much ale.
Deaths occurred from drowning, poisonings, stabbings, suicide, houses catching fire (fairly frequently through the years, the worst being in 1583), people accidently setting themselves on fire from oil lamps, buildings collapsing (Sessions and Market House in 1737), falling off or under coaches or riding accidents. Wars also claimed many people. This is even before we consider epidemics of diseases affecting Nantwich.
Life style contributed to the poor state of health. Poverty and famine (through corn shortages in 1585/6, 1623, Cattle Plague (Rhinderpest 1749-52 and 1865/6), potato blight in the 1840’s and the Cotton Famine of 1862) affected the people.
Clean under-clothes were not common and poor townsfolk might only have one set of clothes to wear both during the day and in bed at night. This provided perfect conditions for blood sucking lice and fleas to feed and multiply on the population and spread blood borne diseases, such as the plague (in 1604, for example).
One could spot the tramps who had spent the night in the Workhouse in the 1800’s as they were scrubbed clean and smelled of disinfectant as they headed off on their travels.
Ouch! Healthcare Exhibition – Additional Materials