Gong Farmer

ImageThe Gong Farmer was the Tudor equivalent of a modern mobile toilet attendant.

It was his job to empty the privies (a row of holes in a wooden plank over a tank) of private households. Once the Farmer?s vat was full of ?gong? (dung) he carted it outside the city walls.

The job was so unsavoury that Gong Farmers were only allowed to work during the night and were forced to live together in designated areas.

When tobacco arrived in this country most Gong Farmers became heavy smokers to mask the gut-wrenching pong of the gong!

< In Middle Ages, people used to throw excreta from their houses on the roads below.

Toilet Paper

If you were to travel back in time, you would sadly discover that toilet paper didn't exist in the Medieval age. In lieu of this modern convenience, handfuls of straw or hay, known as "torche-culs," were utilized. Another device called the "gomphus," a curved stick, was also used.

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