B… is for Bathhouses
Bathhouses were not as common in England as they were in Europe. While in Germany, bathhouses were considered charitable institutions, in England, the best-known examples were the Southwark ‘stews’. These were not just public baths but also doubled as brothels, a connection that led to their temporary closure in 1506 during a major outbreak of syphilis.
“Henry VII closes them down […] but they open up again by popular demand soon after,” explains Rawcliffe.
C… is for Cleanliness
The idea that medieval towns were drowning in filth is an inaccurate one. The reality – according to Professor Rawcliffe – was that “most towns put a great emphasis on the cleanliness of their streets and their clean water supply”.
Laws were strict. Bristol, for example, imposed a fine of three shillings and fourpence (a week’s wages for a journeyman) for anyone caught emptying chamber pots onto the street. In Cambridge, market spaces were required to be cleaned twice a day from 1379 onwards. Towns also hired ‘rakers’ to clear dung, introduced refuse collection, and regulated butchery to prevent animal waste from contaminating public areas.
Bristol, for example, imposed a fine of three shillings and fourpence (a week’s wages for a journeyman) for anyone caught emptying chamber pots onto the street
D… is for Disease
Towns were vulnerable to epidemic disease, particularly the Black Death, which killed vast swathes of the urban population in the 14th century. The belief at the time was that plague spread through ‘bad air’ (miasma), leading to street-cleaning measures in an attempt to prevent outbreaks.
In 1489, both Henry VII and James IV of Scotland complained in correspondence to Dublin and Edinburgh respectively that dirty streets would not only cause plague but also deter traders, reducing royal revenue.
E… is for Economy
At their peak in the early 14th century, only around 15 per cent of England and Wales’s population lived in towns, with Scotland’s urban population being even lower at 10 per cent. There were a handful of larger towns – London (80,000 people), Norwich (25,000), York, Coventry, Bristol, and Newcastle – that dominated trade, while smaller boroughs were economically dependent on their markets and craft industries.
“If you were a shoemaker in York, you could go and sell in [nearby] Beverley or Ripon,” explains Rawcliffe, but in Scotland, this was much more restricted due to “commercial monopolies that made Scottish burghs more like Italian city-states”.
F… is for Fire
Fire was a constant danger in medieval towns, especially given the high density of wooden buildings and open hearths. But the idea that towns burned down regularly is misleading. Rawcliffe explains that after London’s Great Fire of 1212, also known as the Great Fire of Southwark, new laws required new houses within the city walls to be built with tiled roofs. These measures worked, as “London did not have a major fire from 1212 until 1666”.
Fire was a constant danger in medieval towns, especially given the high density of wooden buildings and open hearths
Other towns introduced similar regulations, requiring water buckets outside houses during hot weather, and ensuring that parishes had ladders and ‘fire hooks’ – long poles used to pull down burning buildings to create firebreaks.
In Norwich in 1272, fire was a deliberate act of urban violence: during a riot, angry townspeople burnt part of the cathedral and monastery in an act of rebellion. On the Scottish and Welsh borders, fires were even more common, as towns were frequently attacked and burned during conflicts.
G… is for Guilds
Guilds regulated professions, ensuring quality control and fair wages while also playing a key civic role. Some were deeply connected to immigration; Flemish weavers in Norwich and Dutch brewers in London brought their skills and formed trade associations.
“A lot of the Dutch immigrants in England were beer brewers,” explains Rawcliffe, “and they help drive the switch from ale to hopped beer in the 15th century.”
Wealthier guilds had their own halls, and many participated in civic pageantry. Some also provided charitable support, ensuring that their sick or elderly members were cared for.
H… is for Housing
Medieval towns were built densely, but zoning laws helped manage the space (more on that later…). Richer residents were more likely to have lived in town centres, while ‘smelly’ industries – such as tanning, dyeing, and butchery – were pushed to the outskirts.
Houses ranged from grand stone merchant homes to simple timber dwellings. Multi-storey buildings became common to maximise limited space. In York, housing shortages were so severe that some people resorted to keeping livestock indoors (and one regulation meant that residents would be fined six shillings and eightpence for hiding a cow in their house!)
I… is for Immigrants
Medieval towns could be relatively multicultural. “We have records of 64,000 documented resident aliens in England in the later Middle Ages,” explains Professor Rawcliffe.
Norwich had a Bruges-born mayor. Meanwhile German merchants lived in London’s Steelyard.
We have records of 64,000 documented resident aliens in England in the later Middle Ages
However, tensions could flare. In London in 1517, a violent anti-foreigner riot – later known as ‘Evil May Day’ – targeted immigrant merchants and revealed simmering resentment towards outsiders.
J… is for Justice
Medieval towns had no police force, so law enforcement relied on local officials and community reporting. Bailiffs and town constables managed everyday law enforcement, while serious crimes were tried in town courts.
Punishments were often public. The pillory (where offenders had rotten food and even dead animals thrown at them) was a common sentence for fraud or selling bad food. For repeat offenders, the ultimate punishment was banishment – and this could be catastrophic. “If you’re expelled, that’s it. You lose your business, your trade,” Professor Rawcliffe explains.
K… is for Kitchens (or lack of!)
Many homes lacked cooking facilities, so towns had a thriving ‘takeaway’ food culture.
Cookshops sold pies, roasted meat, and soups, making fast food a staple of urban life. But poor hygiene was a problem: London’s cookshops were frequently sued for selling rancid meat, or falsely advertising mutton as venison.
For those who could afford it, medieval towns also had taverns, where you could enjoy wine, ale, and spiced dishes imported from overseas.
L… is for Livestock
Animals were a common sight in towns. Even within walled cities like London, people had orchards, pastureland, and gardens. Norwich, which was relatively rural, had cattle grazing inside the walls.
But keeping livestock could be chaotic. Loose pigs wandering the streets were such a problem that many towns issued fines to those responsible for them.
M… is for Markets
Markets were the heart of medieval towns, both economically and socially. They were where townspeople purchased food, fabric, tools, and other essentials, and where merchants from the surrounding countryside and even overseas came to sell their goods.
Different towns became known for their specialities. York’s market was famous for its high-quality meat, while Brecon’s market was once poetically described as “the Constantinople of Wales” due to its thriving trade. However, market spaces could also be chaotic and dangerous, with large crowds and frequent traffic congestion as carts, livestock, and pedestrians all tried to navigate narrow streets.
Strict rules were in place to prevent fraudulent trading. Weights and measures had to be officially checked, and bakers, butchers, and brewers who sold underweight goods or spoiled food could face severe punishments, including being put in the pillory.
As Professor Rawcliffe explains, medieval consumers were far from passive: “People would sue the owners of cookshops because the pie had been rancid or was pretending to be venison when it was just mutton.”
N… is for Nightlife
As much as medieval towns were places of work and trade, they were also places of entertainment. After the day’s business, people gathered in alehouses, inns, and taverns to drink, socialise, and sometimes gamble.
Some of these establishments had a rough reputation, but they were essential to town life. Town musicians, known as “waits”, performed at civic celebrations, and minstrels and travelling performers entertained in taverns and at feasts.
There were also more organised forms of entertainment. Guild feasts, mystery plays, and religious processions were popular, particularly on festival days. Town records show that King’s Lynn once paid for a conjurer with a performing dog, while other towns brought in bagpipers or theatrical performers.
However, nightlife could also be a source of disorder. Drunkenness, brawling, and illegal gambling were common complaints, and town officials often introduced curfews to maintain order. “If you look at urban records,” says Rawcliffe, “you will see that fines for gambling, fighting, and drinking too much crop up regularly.”
O… is for Occupations
Medieval towns had a huge variety of occupations, ranging from butchers and bakers to high-status professionals like lawyers, physicians, and apothecaries. The types of jobs available depended on the town – London had Italian bankers on Lombard Street, while Norwich had a thriving textile industry dominated by Flemish weavers.
Trades were closely regulated by the guilds, which controlled apprenticeships, training, and quality standards. Some occupations were more hazardous than others – tanners, dyers, and blacksmiths were pushed to the outskirts of towns due to the smells and fire hazards associated with their work.
Service jobs were also common. Many people worked as domestic servants, stable hands, or market porters, and there was a significant number of female brewers and midwives. At the bottom of the social scale were beggars and casual labourers, who often struggled to make a living.
P… is for Pilgrims
Religious pilgrimage was one of the key reasons for travel in the medieval period, and towns that housed important shrines saw huge economic benefits from pilgrims passing through. Canterbury, York, and Walsingham were some of the most popular pilgrimage destinations in England, attracting thousands of visitors each year.
These visitors provided a steady stream of income for local businesses. Inns, taverns, and cookshops profited from pilgrims needing food and shelter, while market stalls sold souvenirs such as badges, relics, and prayer books. Some towns even had pilgrim hospitals, providing food and basic medical care to the poorer travellers.
Q… is for Quarters
Medieval towns were often divided into distinct quarters based on occupation, wealth, or ethnicity. London had an Italian quarter where Lombard bankers operated, while Norwich had a large Flemish community of weavers.
Some of the quarters were defined by craft or trade. Smithfield in London, for example, was known for its butchers and meat markets, while other areas housed goldsmiths or cloth merchants.
These divisions helped with the organisation of trade and taxation, but they could also create tensions. Foreign merchants were often resented by local traders, leading to periodic anti-immigrant riots, such as the ‘Evil May Day’ riot mentioned above.
R… is for Roads
Despite the relatively small size of medieval towns compared to today’s cities, traffic congestion was a problem. Town streets were narrow and often unpaved, meaning that carts could get stuck in the mud, especially in wet weather.
Bridges and gates created notorious bottlenecks. “You imagine people coming in on market day over a bridge, across a moat, through a gate – you’ve got these great pileups of carts, people on horseback, pilgrims, traders, and pedestrians,” Professor Rawcliffe explains. This congestion was not just an inconvenience but a significant safety risk.
Accidents were common, and children were particularly vulnerable. “If you look at coroner’s records,” says Professor Rawcliffe, “a lot of children are getting killed in traffic accidents, run over by carts with big iron-shod wheels.” Some towns tried to regulate traffic by banning certain vehicles from central areas or requiring carts to be parked outside the walls on market days.
S… is for Sanitation
If medieval towns weren’t actually as dirty as you might have expected, who was responsible for keeping these streets clean?
Larger towns employed ‘rakers’ – people paid to remove refuse – and some introduced public latrines. London, after the Black Death of the mid-14th century, invested in 24 new refuse carts to help keep the streets clean.
However, enforcing these rules was not always easy. Butchers were supposed to dispose of waste outside town walls, but many dumped animal remains into rivers instead. There were also fines for keeping pigs in town, since wandering livestock added to the mess.
Complaints about filth and bad smells were common in legal records, showing that townspeople were very aware of hygiene issues and often took action against their neighbours when cleanliness standards were ignored.
T… is for Timekeeping
Before the widespread use of mechanical clocks, time in medieval towns was marked primarily by church bells, which rang for religious services and signalled the opening and closing of markets.
This method of timekeeping was known as liturgical time, and daily life was structured around these intervals. “If you look at urban records,” Professor Rawcliffe explains, “you will see that events are often timed by church services –‘just before vespers’, for example.”
Before the widespread use of mechanical clocks, time in medieval towns was marked primarily by church bells
However, from the 14th century onwards, towns began installing public clocks that divided the day into regular hourly increments. London was among the first to have municipal clocks, with one installed in Soper Lane by the late 14th century. Other major towns soon followed suit, with town halls and guildhalls boasting large, highly visible clocks that became symbols of civic pride.
U… is for Urban pride
Towns were more than just places of trade; they were sources of immense local pride. Citizens boasted about their town’s history, importance, and grandeur, sometimes to absurd degrees. Poets and chroniclers wrote panegyrics –poems of praise – celebrating their hometowns.
“Even quite small towns had a great sense of heritage and their own greatness,” says Rawcliffe. She gives an example of Oswestry, a market town on the Welsh border, where at least two poets wrote lengthy verses about how marvellous its markets were. In another case, a local poet described Brecon as “the Constantinople of Wales”, drawing an ambitious comparison between a small Welsh town and the great Byzantine capital.
V… is for Vagrants
Towns attracted not only merchants and craftsmen but also beggars, wanderers, and the unemployed. These individuals, known as vagrants, were a cause of anxiety for local authorities, particularly after the Black Death.
With so many people displaced by economic hardship, towns feared that large numbers of jobless and homeless individuals could lead to crime or unrest. To control vagrancy, many towns introduced strict laws. Able-bodied beggars were often expelled unless they could prove they were actively seeking work.
However, not all vagrants were criminals. Some were simply travelling workers looking for employment. Others were pilgrims, mendicant friars, or displaced peasants seeking a fresh start in town.
W… is for Warfare
Towns could be dangerous places during times of war, particularly if they were fortified strongholds or major trading hubs. Some, such as Southampton, were vulnerable to coastal raids – in the 14th century, the town was attacked by the French in a violent plundering raid.
On the Scottish and Welsh borders, warfare was an ongoing reality. Some towns, such as Carlisle, were regularly raided during conflicts between England and Scotland. Townsfolk often rebuilt homes and defences with the expectation that they would be destroyed again.
To protect themselves, towns strengthened their walls and gates, and in some cases, they maintained small militias. Wealthier towns could afford paid guards, while smaller settlements relied on watchmen and armed citizens.
X… is for Xenophobia
Despite benefiting from foreign trade and immigration, medieval towns sometimes experienced anti-foreigner violence, such as with the Evil May Day riots of 1517, when English apprentices rioted against foreign merchants, accusing them of taking jobs and undercutting local businesses.
Similar hostility could be found in smaller towns. Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn saw periodic clashes between local merchants and foreign traders, especially the Hanseatic League’s German merchants, who were accused of having unfair trading advantages.
However, not all immigrants were unwelcome. In some cases, towns actively invited foreign craftsmen and traders, particularly Flemish weavers and Dutch brewers, who helped drive economic growth.
Y… is for Young Apprentices
Apprenticeships were the gateway to skilled work in medieval towns. Boys – and sometimes girls – were taken in by a master craftsman, living in their household and training for several years. “You had to be quite well-off to be an independent tradesman,” explains Professor Rawcliffe. Apprenticeships usually lasted seven years, and during this time, the apprentice was expected to obey strict rules, including bans on gambling, drinking, and immoral behaviour.
For those who successfully completed their training, the rewards were significant. A qualified craftsman could become a full guild member, gain status, and eventually take on apprentices of their own.
Z… is for Zones
Medieval towns were carefully zoned to separate different types of activity. Authorities pushed unpleasant industries to the outskirts, while the wealthiest residents lived near the centre. “Tanning, butchery, tallow-making, parchment-making, and dyeing were all moved to the periphery,” Professor Rawcliffe explains, as these trades produced horrific smells and waste.
Markets were centrally located, often around a main square or near the church, while wealthier homes were built close to the guildhall or civic centre. The most undesirable housing was typically near town walls or gates, where residents were more vulnerable to crime and attacks.
Zoning laws weren’t just about practicality – they also reflected social hierarchy. The closer you lived to the centre, the more important you were. Wealthy merchants, officials, and clergy occupied prime real estate, while the poor were pushed to the fringes.
