History Extra Podcast – “The problem with poo: a millennium of manure”
Host: David Musgrove
Guest: Dr. Richard Jones, Associate Professor of Landscape History, University of Leicester
Date: November 19, 2025
Overview
This lively episode dives into the thousand-year history of manure, exploring its critical economic, social, and environmental role from the medieval era to today. Host David Musgrove and guest Dr. Richard Jones discuss the practicalities, perceptions, and changing attitudes toward manure and human waste, how societies have managed manure, and what lessons history might offer for today’s environmental challenges.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Manure’s Central Role in Pre-Modern Agrarian Society
[04:05] – [05:59]
- Manure was "utterly essential" in the medieval economy, vital for keeping soil fertile in a time before artificial fertilizers.
- Dr. Jones emphasizes:
“One could say, I think, that manure kind of underpins the medieval economy.” – Dr. Richard Jones [04:26]
- Primary sources from the Middle Ages reveal a deep concern for soil health and yields, with written agricultural treatises and manorial records illustrating manure’s importance.
2. Sources and Evidence of Manure Usage
[05:59] – [08:25]
- Medieval manure included animal and, to a lesser extent, human waste, plus green manures (plant material).
- Dr. Jones notes the continuity from Roman agricultural practices through to the 18th century, illustrating a long-standing awareness of manure’s value.
- The presence of pottery sherds on fields, established through archaeology, often marks historic manuring activity.
3. Manure as an Economic Asset and Social Indicator
[08:25] – [13:37]
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Manure was valuable—so much so that thefts occurred, and ownership was significant, especially between lords and peasants.
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Large, visible dunghills were prominent in the landscape and even used as boundary markers in Anglo-Saxon charters.
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On rural homesteads, each household would curate its own midden (heap). The more manure, the wealthier the household:
“If you’re looking for a husband, look at the size of his dunghill.” – Dr. Richard Jones [13:25]
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Negative connotations persisted, but manure also registered as a marker of affluence among agricultural families.
4. Changing Perceptions: Urban vs. Rural & the Advent of Urbanization
[13:37] – [15:48]
- With urban growth, “night soil” (human waste) was systematically collected and sent to country fields, creating a symbiotic rural-urban nutrient cycle.
- This cycle broke down as authorities prioritized “cleanliness” and saw excrement as nuisance, not asset, particularly from the mid-19th century:
“…we start to see that cycle being broken—that urban authorities are keen to cleanse their towns... seeing... rivers as an opportunity… to flush away what they see as a problem.” – Dr. Richard Jones [14:51]
5. Victorian Infrastructure: Innovation and Environmental Crisis
[15:48] – [23:43]
- By the mid-1800s, large sewer systems emerged (notably Joseph Bazalgette's work in London), shifting from recycling nutrients back to land toward disposal via water.
- Animal and human waste in towns was a major issue—authorities were active in insuring cleanliness for both health and civic pride, contrary to some modern perceptions about ‘filthy’ medieval and early modern towns.
- The “sewage question” emerged: how to manage increasing volumes of waste without creating new pollutants (notably river pollution).
- Sewage farming was developed—using urban effluent directly on agricultural land, proven both effective and economically viable:
“Sewage farming was remarkably efficient... analyses of the effluent waters that are leaving farms after being applied to fields... that natural percolation through the soil has certainly clarified the sewage, if not purified it.” – Dr. Richard Jones [25:15]
6. Alternative Technologies & The Pneumatic Sewer
[26:18] – [29:27]
- Victorian inventors tried chemical treatments, dry closets (composting toilets), keeping water out of waste, and even pneumatic (vacuum) systems.
- The pneumatic system (proposed by a Dutchman, Lerner) saw popularity on the continent, but Bazalgette’s waterborne system dominated Britain.
- Paris pioneered converting sewage solids into “poudret” (a kind of dry fertilizer) for use in agriculture.
7. Modern Practices and Cultural Contrasts
[29:27] – [32:30]
- “Biosolids” (treated sewage sludge) are still applied to agricultural land today, strictly regulated, and less likely to be used on food crops directly consumed raw.
- There remains societal aversion, especially in the West, to using human waste as fertilizer. Dr. Jones contrasts this to practices in East Asia, where human excrement was (and sometimes still is) critical due to fewer large livestock:
“It has been traditional in Asia, in particular, to make more use of human excrement than has been the case in Europe... Is this a cultural choice or is it an economic choice? I suspect it is a bit of both.” – Dr. Richard Jones [31:25]
8. Lessons for Today: Waste Management and Future Possibilities
[32:30] – [34:48]
- Modern waste contains new pollutants (microplastics, heavy metals) absent in the past, complicating its reuse.
- There may still be lessons to draw from pre-industrial approaches, such as using waste for non-food crops (e.g., biofuels).
- Dr. Jones reflects:
“An interest in medieval manure has one eye, of course, on the growth in organic farming. And I think that there is wisdom to be found in the practices of medieval peasants that could be usefully applied in 21st century organic farming.” – Dr. Richard Jones [33:05]
- Infrastructure designed in the Victorian era still shapes present-day waste management—a challenge and a limit, but also an opportunity for new approaches.
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- “Manure kind of underpins the medieval economy.” — Dr. Richard Jones [04:26]
- “The theft of manure, for example. We could even turn to coroner's records and discover that people are dying on dunghills...” — Dr. Richard Jones [07:22]
- “If you’re looking for a husband, look at the size of his dunghill.” — Dr. Richard Jones [13:25]
- "I guess you could call river pollution the first great environmental crisis of the industrial age." — Dr. Richard Jones [22:55]
- “The pneumatic system was tried out in Germany and the Low Countries, but it really didn’t catch on in Britain.” — Dr. Richard Jones [28:57]
- “The dunghill—that feature of the medieval landscape—is also a feature of the 21st-century countryside, too.” — Dr. Richard Jones [30:55]
Important Timestamps
- [04:05] – Manure’s vital role in the medieval economy
- [07:22] – Sources: manorial records, theft, and deaths on dunghills
- [13:25] – Dunghills as social status (“look at the size of his dunghill”)
- [14:51] – Breakdown of the rural-urban nutrient cycle
- [22:55] – “River pollution...the first great environmental crisis of the industrial age”
- [25:15] – Efficacy and economics of sewage farming
- [28:57] – Pneumatic sewage systems and their limited adoption
- [30:55] – Continuity of dunghills from past to present
- [33:05] – Wisdom from the past for organic farming today
Tone and Style
The conversation is energetic, humorous, and grounded in historical detail—balancing academic rigor with an engaging, down-to-earth narrative. Dr. Jones brings both expertise and wit, making the history of manure surprisingly fascinating and relevant to contemporary conversations about sustainability and environmental management.
Conclusion
The episode reveals manure as a linchpin of agricultural history and a lens for viewing both changing human attitudes and the transformation of economic and environmental systems over the last millennium. From medieval dunghills to Bazalgette’s sewers and today’s biosolids, the journey of poo is, as Dr. Jones demonstrates, a surprisingly rich story with lessons for our own age.