I expect they have no end of bother covering up the single- and double-yellow lines down the sides of modern streets when filming a period drama.
When I was young (groan groan) there were lots of horse-drawn vehicles (no, I'm not quite Victorian, this was in the fifties) such as the rag-and-bone man, the milkman and people out riding. There were piles of manure left everywhere. People did pop outside and scoop it up for their vegetable gardens, but one still had to watch one's step when crossing the road.