Description:John Street consisted of many houses and courtyards. This was a closed court off Lower John Street and it is easy to image the unsanitary conditions that people lived in. The houses were surrounded by potbanks and factories and life must have sometimes become unpleasant, especially on hot summer days with little air circulating. In addition there was the stench of outside duckett toilets not on the main sewer system and it is no wonder that disease was rife.