Castles might seem all grand and majestic, but their moats were hiding a seriously gross secret. Instead of being filled with clean water, loads of them were actually full of sewage and garbage—both human and animal, yuck! Basically, they were like open-air toilets.

Without proper plumbing, the servants would just chuck everything from food scraps to the contents of chamber pots straight into the moat. You can’t imagine anything less royal than the stench of a castle surrounded by blackwater.

Advertisements
Advertisements