001 Prudhoe Castle in Northumbria, England. The garderobe exit is hidden behind the branches but is a stepped construction with the top being farther out than the bottom.
Click any photo to enlarge it.
While it may seem odd to link toilets with a cookery site, consider that the final destination of the cook’s or confectioner’s hard work and devotion is the… No other artist’s efforts are designed to ultimately end up in the privy. And, in the original guilds, were not the secrets of the trade considered privileged information?!?
In the National Museum in Nuremberg there was a lovely kitchen privy from about the 1300s. The museum is housed in a former convent. The privy has its own door and a wooden seat which looks like a chair with a back. Unfortunately, no photos are allowed in the museum and, while there is a postcard of the cooking area in the kitchen, no one seems to think that a photo of this lovely privy might be useful!
001 Prudhoe Castle in Northumbria, England. The garderobe exit is hidden behind the branches but is a stepped construction with the top being farther out than the bottom.
002 Prudhoe Castle. Another garderobe exit.
003 Prudhoe Castle. Another view.
004 Segedunum near Newcastle, England. This fort was part of Hadrian’s Wall. This is a reconstruction of the toilets in the bathhouse at this Roman fort. This bathhouse is a copy of the one at Chesters since the actual bathhouse at Segedunum is inaccessible. It is under the Newcastle shipyard!
005 The center stone is an actual Roman toilet seat with modern replacement stones on either side. This is in the Segedunum museum.
006 Carlisle Castle, England. A garderobe with grating to deter inquisitive visitors.
007 Carlisle Castle. On the right is the opening for the garderobe chute.
008 A latrine at Vindolanda on Hadrian’s Wall.
009 Vindolanda. A reconstruction of a 1700s outdoor turf toilet (called a “nelly”?). This is next to the reconstructed crofter’s cottage. The “nelly” is not in pristine condition.
010 Vindolanda. The latrine inside the commandant’s house.
011 Vindolanda. The soldiers’ latrine. It is one of the best preserved on Hadrian’s Wall. There is a commercial postcard showing the Roman soldiers using it. These latrines seemed to be places for socializing while engaged on “business”. One of the tourists is demonstrating where a person could sit. The stone channels on either side of the central stones carried water which the soldier could use for cleansing. He would dip a sponge-tipped stick into the water and then rinse it off. The placard in the front shows a picture of soldiers using the facility.
012 Vindolanda. Another view. The stone (or wooden) seats have disappeared but near the top of the photo are the remnants of where the seats would have begun and then been attached to the walls. The channels were designed to let the water drain by gravity. I am presuming that the two larger basins were also for water and some type of cleansing.
013 Vindolanda. A still closer view, looking from the back of the latrine to the “front door”.
014 Vindolanda. A view from outside of the latrine, showing the channels for water which would have fed into it.
015 Vindolanda. In the right-hand corner there is a small “room” which was labeled as a urinal for the commandant’s house.
016 Vindolanda. The latrine area in the hospital.
017 Hampton Court, England. A poor photo of an indoor privy by the back entrance to one of the shops. The photo had to be taken through glass and most of the privy is not visible even to those on site.
018 Pickering Castle, Yorkshire. A garderobe in Diate Hill Tower.
019 Pickering Castle. Looking down into the garderobe.
020 Pickering Castle. The doorway into the short hall where the garderobe is located. It was fairly dark in there.
021 Clifford’s Tower, York, England. The garderobe shafts or “shoots” outside the Tower. Visitors cannot see the actual interior garderobe because it has been converted to a storeroom for the staff.
022 Clifford’s Tower. Another view of the garderobe shafts.
023 Arbeia, Newcastle, England. This is the latrine area for this fort at the end of Hadrian’s Wall.
024 Warkworth Castle, Northumbria, England. The home of the Percy family. Looking into a garderobe.
025 Warkworth Castle. Another garderobe.
026 Warkworth Castle. Yet another one. What would they have done without them?
027 New Castle in Newcastle, England. The keep is just about all that is left after the railroad drove the tracks through the rest of the castle. This garderobe shaft is lit and protected with glass.
028 New Castle. A wider view of the seat area.
029 Monkgate, York, England. This is in the Richard III museum in this entrance to the city. See also photo 036.
030 Monkgate. The exterior exit to the garderobe, above.
031 York Minster Chapter House, York, England. The two rectangular windows are in the Masons’ Loft. The garderobe was built up there in the 1200s when the Minster was expanded. This area is not generally accessible to visitors. See also photos 50 and 51 for an interior view.
032 York City Walls. The Historic Toilets Tour, given by Yorkwalk, pointed out these “public” toilets on the city wall. This one is protected since there is an opening in the “floor”.
033 York City Walls. The neighboring toilet. The hole is not there any longer and the height of the walk is higher than it would have been in medieval times.
034 York City Walls. These are stairs up to the city wall near the Merchant Taylors Hall, giving access to the “public” loos.
035 Clifford’s Tower. A closer view of the exit of the garderobe shoots.
036 Monkgate. A better view of the toilet on the second floor.
037 Monkgate. On the third floor there is a prison cell with a built-in garderobe. An en-suite prison!
038 Chester, England. The garderobe in one of the towers on the city wall, accessible with a guided tour.
039 Chester, England. Another view.
040 Conwy Castle, Wales. A garderobe area and shaft with protection provide by metal bars. See also photos 53 and 54.
041 Conwy Castle. Another view.
042 Conwy Castle. Where the garderobe exits. It looks like a door or window.
043 Plas Mawr, Conwy, Wales. A Tudor merchant’s home. This is a garderobe which has been re-plastered but the seat is old.
044 Plas Mawr. Looking down into the shaft.
045 Plas Mawr. A “close stool” from a later period – the 1700s?
046 Chesters, Hadrian’s Wall. The bathhouse area and latrine. See also photo 49.
047 York, England. The tiny window is all that is left of the indoor privy at King’s Manor where Henry VIII and Katherine Howard stayed. The privy area is now a broom closet.
048 York, England. A close-up of the privy window. You can see an arch of stone above it so some changes have obviously been made to this area of the Manor.
049 Chesters. Another view of the baths and latrine area.
050 York Minster Chapter House, York, England. Looking into the garderobe in the Masons’ Loft. Discussion was had whether there was a curtain to close off this “room” or if there was a door.
051 York Minster Chapter House. A blurry photo of the door frame, but a knobby piece is visible as evidence for a hinged door, above.
052 Conwy, Wales. The 8-9 garderobe chutes on the city walls. The inside portion of this section of the wall was still under restoration in 2006.
053 Conwy Castle. A garderobe. The seating area has been replaced by a metal grate.
054 Conwy Castle. Me, trying out the seating!
055 Albrecht Durer’s House, Nuremberg, Germany. The indoor privy is in the second-floor kitchen and was locked. This is the best glance inside the door. Durer did not ask permission to build it and was therefore fined when it was discovered.
056 Albrecht Durer’s House. Looking at the locked privy door in the kitchen. “Garderobe” in German refers to where people hang up their coats in public buildings.
057 New Castle, Newcastle, England. Here is another reconstructed privy.
058 York, England. The Red Tower. The brick projection from the wall is the exit for the garderobe. The tower originally stood near the “King’s Fishpond”, a large flooded area which served for part of the “wall” around York.
059 York, England. The stairway into the upper floor of the Red Tower where the garderobe is located.
060 York, England. The original seat and small room for the garderobe in the Red Tower.
061 York, England. Exiting from the garderobe room. All done!