What caused the Great Stink of 1858?
What caused the Great Stink of 1858? For centuries the River Thames had been used as a dumping ground for the capital's waste and as the population grew, so did the problem. The hot summer of 1858 elevated the stench to an unbearable level and resulted in an episode known as 'The Great Stink'.
How dirty was Victorian London?
In Victorian London, filth was everywhere: horse traffic filled the streets with dung, household rubbish went uncollected, cesspools brimmed with night soil, graveyards teemed with rotting corpses, the air itself was choked with smoke.