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What's this all about and why?

MrsGardenMrsGarden Posts: 3,951
in The potting shed
Old stone wall with a square hole, which has been bricked up. 
Just curious if you could shed any light on it.

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Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited July 2018
    If there's an alleyway behind it, it could be to facilitate the collection of 'night soil' by the 'night soil collector'? 

    You leave the pail in the 'hole' so it can be accessed and emptied by the collector overnight. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    A very valuable commodity in the old days. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • Pauline 7Pauline 7 Posts: 2,246
    I have never heard about that before.  Am I right in thinking that night soil is" human bodily waste"?
    West Yorkshire
  • herbaceousherbaceous Posts: 2,318
    The Truth -Terry Pratchett

    "if it weren't for Harry King and his night soil boys who remove buckets of the stuff from every establishment that doesn't think that stinking of piss is a valuable customer experience."    This is the origin of his nickname "King of the Golden River". He places buckets in a number of establishments and charges the owners a quite reasonable fee to remove them once full. Harry then sells the contents, including saltpetre and ammonia, to alchemists and farmers. What can't be sold to these people can always be used to create compost, which can then be sold. Harry also collects rubbish for composting. People pay him to take away unwanted material, and then he can sell the material for more money.
    "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it."  Sir Terry Pratchett
  • Pauline 7Pauline 7 Posts: 2,246
    Thanks Herb 
    West Yorkshire
  • herbaceousherbaceous Posts: 2,318
    You're welcome  :)  Sir Terry was very informative on a lot of subjects I've found, and very funny!
    "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it."  Sir Terry Pratchett
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    I remember the advice of Ron Hesketh, our old geography teacher, “Boys, never eat lettuces in Belgium; they fertilise them with night soil.”
    Rutland, England
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    An old chap in the village where I grew up grew absolutely the best rhubarb for miles around ... but no one wanted any of it  ;)

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Dovefromabove said:
    An old chap in the village where I grew up grew absolutely the best rhubarb for miles around ... but no one wanted any of it  ;)
    Where's that 'green boak' smiley when you need it..... :D
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • MrsGardenMrsGarden Posts: 3,951
    Ha ha ha!!! So now I'm know! 
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