Author : English Heritage
Publisher : Historic England Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 104 pages
Book Rating : 4.F/5 ( download)
Book Synopsis Hazardous History by : English Heritage
Download or read book Hazardous History written by English Heritage and published by Historic England Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Life today has its problems, but it wasn't so long ago that everyday life in the home, let alone going out to public spaces, was fraught with danger. Put a foot wrong and you could be in deep trouble. Walking down a medieval street ran the risk of being doused from above in someone else's slops, or being crushed in a game of mob football in which several hundred took part. Hygiene as we know it was non-existent. The meting out of law and order leant a brutal and terrible meaning to the concept of rough justice. As late as 1819 people could be hanged in Britain for such minor transgressions as cutting down a tree in any avenue, garden or plantation, impersonating a Chelsea pensioner, or for damaging Westminster Bridge. Disease was an ever-present menace in Victorian streets, especially in overcrowded areas. Set against this backcloth, history was hazardous indeed, as this absorbing and gruesomely detailed book reveals.