2-861-145 - Historic England Archive/Heritage Images

A medieval gongfermour, or gong farmer, at work, 2004. A reconstruction illustration of a medieval gongfermour, or gong farmer, at work. A gongfermour is a Tudor term that describes someone whose job entailed removing human excrement from cesspits and privies. They only worked at night, and were often called 'nightmen', and the collections as 'night soil'. The waste had to be taken out of town boundaries. The gongfermour is working at night by candlelight, and is possibly in a cesspit or privvy. The illustration was made for the educational department to use on medieval locations.