Over centuries and millennia, mankind has witnessed changes in almost all aspects of life including architecture, irrigation, food habits and much more. Have you ever wondered how much the bathroom or the latrine has evolved over the years? In Europe, the medieval toilet, known as a privy or garderobe, was quite primitive. However, in castles, these facilities offered more comfort and showcased significant design effort compared to other places. Factors like practicality, privacy and efficient waste disposal were carefully considered. Even today, latrines are among the most prominent and easily identifiable features protruding from the exterior walls of ruined medieval castles.
Interesting videos are often posted on the Instagram account explainingeverythings. Recently, one such video has been shared in which the toilet mechanism of a 1000-year-old castle was explored. You can see that there are stairs leading up to the toilet. On going up through the narrow path, a raised platform is visible inside, in which an open shaft is built. It is open till the bottom. People could defecate sitting on this. This is a very small room. Many people have expressed surprise after seeing this toilet.
Castle toilets were typically built into the walls, projecting out on corbels so that waste would fall below, often into the castle moat. Even better, some waste went directly into a river, as with the latrines in one of the large stone halls at Chepstow Castle in Wales, built in the 11th century CE. At Corfe Castle in Dorset, England, built in the 11th century CE, latrine shafts emptied directly into the courtyard or bailey. Meanwhile, at Peveril Castle in Derbyshire, England, built between 1176 and 1177 CE, the latrines conveniently hung over a cliff face.
While people have been left impressed by the mechanism of the castle toilet, some think that the open space into where the royalty defecated was too wide and an assassin could make his way up to kill the king.
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