Bog Standard

Friday 23rd July 2021

Richmond Castle, North Yorkshire 

Medieval toilet for the normal people. 

A wooden plank, with suitably sized hole would have been placed onto the wall supports above the long drop to the drain. A bucket of water would have been used to help things along to the outside of the castle. 

A bit basic but for those commoners within the castle walls, it was a massive step up from a wall and a handful of grass. 

The nobility, however, had (for those times) a Space Age Shitter. 

At the top of a tower, just about as far away from the main living quarters as you could get, was the Royal Kharzi. 

Unfortunately, this part of the castle was closed and not open for viewing, but from the outside you can see the rear wall of the loo sticking out (about an arses length) from the tower wall.

The part of the grounds it would land on forms the edge of an ornamental garden. 

The roses must have been fantastic. 

It would, however, have been quite a walk in the dark for a midnight visit, so, sometime, another set of conveniences were obviously constructed a little nearer to the main keep. 

These featured a separate 'Ladies' as well as running water, dispensable soap and hot air hand driers. 

Quite something for the sixteenth century.