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Public Sanitation Much like infrastructure today, corporate buildings like The Globe would have multiple options for cleaning up the necessary refuse: There’s self cleaning, so the building would have managers and then there’s also municipal workers that worked for the city would have been hired to clean...The open air design facilitates cleaning, too. The outdoor playhouses as they are renovated, they are managing water and waste, archaeology shows this details. They are drained at the foot of the stage, and they are right on the river, so also the roof over the stage manages the flow of water. The flooring was gravel and nut shells from the soapworks down the road, and that helps with cleaning as well because it rinses itself out. One of the ways we know about the cleaning practices are from the receipts recorded by Philip Henslowe in the "Henslowe Diaries" Henslowe was the manager for the playhouse and kept notes on who was hired and how much they were paid for specific services. Elizabeth points to textual evidence of various plays that talk about performance spaces having a housekeeper, renting out spaces, and people who care for the space, but also a woman who was sitting in the playhouse shelling beans. Obviously, London is a big place, and operated differently than smaller towns like Stratford Upon Avon. I asked Elizabeth about the infrastructure of somewhere like Shakespeare’s hometown and what kind of systems were in place for public sanitation, street cleaning, or waste management. Elizabeth shares that even medieval towns had systems in place designed with cleanliness, and even recycling, in mind. The towns operated on a grid system oriented towards a waterway, and for Stratford Upon Avon was the River Avon. There was also a gravel pit and a saltworks in Stratford Upon Avon. The document that records John Shakespeare being fined, along with two others, for allowing a "midden heap" or muckhill, to accumulate on Henley Street| SourceTerms of useThe National Archives give no warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or fitness for the purpose of the information provided.Images may be used only for purposes of research, private study or education. Applications for any other use should be made to The National Archives Image Library, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU, Tel: 020 8392 5225 Fax: 020 8392 5266.Document-specific informationDate: April 29, 1552Repository: The National Archives, Kew, UKCall number and opening: SC 2/207/82View online bibliographic record Muckhills There were six muck hills in Stratford Upon Avon which functioned like large compost bins for the town's residents. The hills were there not for human refuse or even animal refuse, but instead, for garbage items that might also be reused. People could add things to the pile as well as take things from the pile and according to the records we have of John Shakespeare, residents of the town were charged a fee to use the muck hill. Henley Street, at the very top was a tenement that was rented and across the street was the muck hill, and there...
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