Sufficient supplies of drinking water constituted a crucial matter for the medieval town. The townspeople often solved the issue by excavating wells in the grounds of their houses or even in the cellar. Apart from these, there were also public wells. The same usually applied in castles, where a well was often dug out to collect water from a nearby source, such as a stream. Well-building was very costly and not possible everywhere. Castle wells could reach enormous depths, in extreme cases even more than 100m deep. It proved more effectual to build a cistern - a tank that resembled a well, but did not have its own water source. They usually collected rain water, which was filtered, and would be emptied out once a year.
As well as the obtaining fresh water, drainage was necessary. The building of simple sewers or drains is attested to by instructions from aldermen regulating that these sewers be dug and maintained, follow the shortest route and covered from above. Especially in towns, open ditches along paved roads served as drains. Such a system of sewage disposal was a nuisance to the populace, a source of unpleasant smells and spread infectious diseases and epidemics. Hence the originally open ditches were progressively covered over, eventually replaced by brick sewers, which diverted rainwater from the streets and roofs to the nearest watercourse or pond. The regularly recurring epidemics spreading around Europe later demanded a more radical solution.
Sufficient supplies of drinking water constituted a crucial matter for the medieval town. The townspeople often solved the issue by excavating wells in the grounds of their houses or even in the cellar. Apart from these, there were also public wells. The same usually applied in castles, where a well was often dug out to collect water from a nearby source, such as a stream. Well-building was very costly and not possible everywhere. Castle wells could reach enormous depths, in extreme cases even more than 100m deep. It proved more effectual to build a cistern - a tank that resembled a well, but did not have its own water source. They usually collected rain water, which was filtered, and would be emptied out once a year.
As well as the obtaining fresh water, drainage was necessary. The building of simple sewers or drains is attested to by instructions from aldermen regulating that these sewers be dug and maintained, follow the shortest route and covered from above. Especially in towns, open ditches along paved roads served as drains. Such a system of sewage disposal was a nuisance to the populace, a source of unpleasant smells and spread infectious diseases and epidemics. Hence the originally open ditches were progressively covered over, eventually replaced by brick sewers, which diverted rainwater from the streets and roofs to the nearest watercourse or pond. The regularly recurring epidemics spreading around Europe later demanded a more radical solution.