STARTER – LOOK CAREFULLY AT THE PICTURE AND

LIST WHAT YOU CAN SEE

LEARNING OBJECTIVE – to understand why Medieval
towns developed and what life was like in Medieval
towns
 WHERE DID MEDIEVAL TOWNS
GROW UP?
Medieval towns tended to grow up at the following types of sites:
•by a river
•by the sea
•where 2 main roads crossed
•by a castle
•by a monastery
COPY OUT THIS
INFORMATION

WHY DO YOU THINK THE TOWN OF COLCHESTER

GREW UP HERE?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZimXhjG
shI
There were few towns in Medieval England at the start of
the Medieval period.
 WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO LIVE IN A
MEDIEVAL TOWN?
Village people came to towns to trade therefore those who were in charge of a town had to
do what was needed to ensure that their town was safe. Many towns had large fences built
around them and the gates of these fences were locked at night to keep out undesirables.
Cities such as York and Canterbury had city walls that served the same purpose.

CAN YOU SEE

THE TOWN
WALLS
AROUND
CHESTER?
 WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO LIVE IN A
MEDIEVAL TOWN?
Towns were dirty places to live in. There was no sewage system as we
would know it today. Many people threw toilet waste into the street
along with other rubbish. Rats were very common in towns and cities.
Towns might use pigs to eat what rubbish there
An extract from History Alive I
(1970) The streets were
sometimes cobbled,
sometimes covered with
gravel, but more often just
a mud track and were
always filthy. Household
waste, sewage, leather
parings, rotting vegetables
and any other rubbish was
thrown into the gutter and
ran down the centre. Here
it accumulated in rotting,
rat and germ-infested
stinking heaps until a
violent rainstorm washed it
further on.
 WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO LIVE IN A
MEDIEVAL TOWN?
Water was far from clean as the local river would have been polluted with toilet waste
thrown into it from villages. As people used this water for washing, disease was
common. Life expectancy was short.

MEDIEVAL
BLOOD
LETTING
 WHAT WAS LIFE LIKE IN A
MEDIEVAL TOWN?
Houses were made of a wooden frame, with the gaps filled with woven strips of wood,
known as 'wattle', and covered, or 'daubed', with clay and horse-dung. Most roofs were
thatched.
As homes were made of wood and thatch, fire was another danger in a town or city.
 WHAT WAS LIFE LIKE IN A
MEDIEVAL TOWN?
The streets of a medieval town were narrow and busy and dark as the houses nearly
touched each other. They were noisy, with the town crier, church bells, and traders calling
out their wares. There were many fast food sellers, selling such things as hot sheep's feet
and beef-ribs.
WHAT WAS LIFE LIKE IN A
MEDIEVAL TOWN?

The main purpose of

a medieval town
was for trading so
stalls were set up
selling all sorts of
products.
 WHAT WAS LIFE LIKE IN A
MEDIEVAL TOWN?
Criminals were put in the stocks or the pillory. These were wooden boards with holes
for feet, hands or head. Medieval punishments were cruel, and crimes such as theft
were punished by hanging.
WHAT WAS IT LIFE LIKE IN A
MEDIEVAL TOWN?
Walking in a town at night could
also be dangerous. Though towns
had a curfew (a time when
everyone had to be in their
homes) no town had a police force
to deal with those who broke the
law. No town had street lights -
the only choice was candles but in
a wooden city or town, these
‘street lights’ could prove
disastrous.
 TASK
USING ALL THE INFORMATION YOU HAVE LEARNT ABOUT
LIFE IN A MEDIEVAL TOWN, YOU ARE TO PRODUCE A PIECE
OF DESCRIPTIVE WRITING IMAGINING THAT YOU ARE
VISITING A MEDIEVAL TOWN.

YOUR PIECE OF WRITING HOWEVER SHOULD BE BASED ON

THE FOLLOWING SENSES:

WHAT YOU CAN SEE?

WHAT YOU CAN HEAR?
WHAT YOU CAN SMELL?