What toilet facilities were available to commoners in the middle ages?

Chamber potsChamber potsA chamber pot is a portable toilet, meant for nocturnal use in the bedroom. It was common in many cultures before the advent of indoor plumbing and flushing toilets.

What did people use for toilets in the Middle Ages?

Medieval castles in Europe were fitted with private toilets known as ‘garderobes’ (example pictured above), typically featuring stone seats above tall holes draining into moats. Communal latrines with many seats were installed in medieval British abbeys.

How did peasants use the bathroom?

Toilets. In villages or on manor estates the peasantry used a cesspit for their own waste, which might then be taken and spread on the fields as a fertiliser. In some cases a small hut provided some privacy and a wooden bench with a hole in it some comfort (as well as reducing the chances of falling into the cesspit).

What did medieval people use instead of toilet paper?

Wiping in the Medieval Times



Before toilet paper was even a concept, people just used whatever was available to wipe. This included items such as hay, wood shavings, corn cobs, and even iron cables.

What was the toilet in a poor house in the Middle Ages?

Larger houses had enclosed latrines attached to or behind the home, which emptied into deep cesspits.

What did people use before indoor toilets?

There weren’t always toilets as we know them today. Before the invention of the loo humans used a hole in the ground, potties and chamber pots!

How did medieval knights go to the bathroom?

When the person wearing armor was not engaged in warfare, he would simply do what people do today. He would make his way to a toilet (in medieval and Renaissance times usually referred to as a latrine, or garderobe) or some other secluded location, remove relevant parts of his armor and clothes, and heed nature’s call.

How did people wipe before toilet paper?

Leaves, sticks, moss, sand and water were common choices, depending on early humans’ environment. Once we developed agriculture, we had options like hay and corn husks. People who lived on islands or on the coast used shells and a scraping technique.

What did peasants do for hygiene?

Kings and peasants alike washed up before and after meals. Most people ate with their hands—cutlery was rare and food was often consumed using stale bread called trenchers. Washing away the day’s grime was necessary and a sign of respect for whoever was feeding you.

How did early humans go to the bathroom?




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What did medieval castles use for toilet rooms?

garderobes

In the medieval period luxury castles were built with indoor toilets known as ‘garderobes‘, and the waste dropped into a pit below.



What is a medieval toilet called?

garderobe

The term garderobe is also used to refer to a medieval or Renaissance toilet or a close stool. In a medieval castle, a garderobe was usually a simple hole discharging to the outside into a cesspit (akin to a pit latrine) or the moat (like a fish pond toilet), depending on the structure of the building.

What did the Romans use for toilets?

The word “latrine,” or latrina in Latin, was used to describe a private toilet in someone’s home, usually constructed over a cesspit. Public toilets were called foricae. They were often attached to public baths, whose water was used to flush down the filth.

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