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Lalwendë · 08-02-2012, 01:33 PM

Social history is one of my 'things', and I know a little about toilets

Firstly, a fact you may be interested in is that even 'civilised' people often had appalling habits. The great palace of Versailles was apparently so filthy that women's gowns would be stained in excreta if they didn't hold them up while walking along the passageways. Louis XIV had to ask that residents clean the faeces out of the corridors once a week.

However, other people were often very clean. It seems that if people had the will, they could find the way. Every British castle has a 'garderobe' (it is compulsory to pose for a photo while sitting on one) which would empty into either moat or cesspit. And most old homes still have a cesspit hidden somewhere - the house I grew up in had one right up to the mid 1980s, when it overflowed, and that was when we finally got connected to the mains sewers. Earth or compost toilets are common for those who seek to be green. You simply use one until full, seal it for a year, then use what's left as compost. And back in the 1800s one of the jobs my ancestors who lived on the canal boats did was carry vegetables from the countryside into Liverpool and carry the 'nightsoil' back out again, in order to make the fields grow more veg.

Anyway. This all shows there were many and various ways of dealing with waste should they have wished to do so and not live like they did in Versailles. So no doubt the good folks of Middle-earth knew how to handle such things and it simply wasn't an issue that needed describing!

08-02-2012, 01:33 PM	#7
Lalwendë A Mere Boggart Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: under the bed Posts: 4,737	Social history is one of my 'things', and I know a little about toilets Firstly, a fact you may be interested in is that even 'civilised' people often had appalling habits. The great palace of Versailles was apparently so filthy that women's gowns would be stained in excreta if they didn't hold them up while walking along the passageways. Louis XIV had to ask that residents clean the faeces out of the corridors once a week. However, other people were often very clean. It seems that if people had the will, they could find the way. Every British castle has a 'garderobe' (it is compulsory to pose for a photo while sitting on one) which would empty into either moat or cesspit. And most old homes still have a cesspit hidden somewhere - the house I grew up in had one right up to the mid 1980s, when it overflowed, and that was when we finally got connected to the mains sewers. Earth or compost toilets are common for those who seek to be green. You simply use one until full, seal it for a year, then use what's left as compost. And back in the 1800s one of the jobs my ancestors who lived on the canal boats did was carry vegetables from the countryside into Liverpool and carry the 'nightsoil' back out again, in order to make the fields grow more veg. Anyway. This all shows there were many and various ways of dealing with waste should they have wished to do so and not live like they did in Versailles. So no doubt the good folks of Middle-earth knew how to handle such things and it simply wasn't an issue that needed describing! __________________ Gordon's alive!