Was the streets in the middle ages really used for dumping?

Answer 1

Villages, towns and cities had no drainage or sewage systems, except if this was built to serve a monastery (as at Canterbury in Kent). Most houses had no running water, no Plumbing, no waste disposal and no sewage system; in daylight people visited the cesspit located in ground at the rear of their property, which might be partially covered to create a privy. At night it was easier to empty waste out of upper windows into the streets, which were effectively open sewers.

In some places urine was put outside in containers to be collected, since its ammonia content was an important element in various processes, including fullering cloth, dying and parchment-making.

Streets also ran with blood, since all butchering of cattle was done in the street. At Canterbury the small square outside the main cathedral gate was originally the Bullmarket, where animals were first baited with dogs and then killed and butchered before the meat was sold in the adjoining lane (still called Butchery Lane today). The square is today called the Buttermarket, a case of hiding the historical truth.