Did castles have toilets?
Did castles have toilets? In the medieval period luxury castles were built with indoor toilets known as 'garderobes', and the waste dropped into a pit below.
What did toilets look like in castles?
Yes, there were toilets. In photographs of castles, you can often see a tower at the corner that sticks out like a bay window. That's a toilet. It had a seat with a hole in it, and everything dropped in the moat.
Where did maids sleep in castles?
Most domestic servants would have slept in shared chambers in either the cellars or attics of the castle buildings. There might also be simple buildings outside the castle for herdsmen, mill workers, wood-cutters, and craftspeople such as rope-makers, candle-makers, potters, basket-weavers, and spinners.
What was the hygiene in medieval castles?
The bathing itself consisted of washing the body with sweet smelling oils, or if they could afford it, tallow soap. If they had lots of money, or say, were a Lord or Lady in a castle, they'd 'top and tail' at least twice a day.
Why did castles not have toilets?
The toilets of a castle were usually built into the walls so that they projected out on corbels and any waste fell below and into the castle moat. Even better, waste went directly into a river as is the case of the latrines of one of the large stone halls at Chepstow Castle in Wales, built from the 11th century CE.
Did medieval castles have toilet paper?
In the Middle Ages, people would make use of sticks, moss and other plants. Archaeological findings from cesspits of monasteries in Ireland and Norway included small pieces of cloth that were used like toilet paper.