Cheddar Cottage Tales: Victorian Outside Toilets
Back in the 1960’s up until the late 70’s terrace council houses in the North of England still had primitive outdoor toilets/privy. There was no lighting so at night so you either took a torch (flashlight), a candle or an oil lamp.
I attended primary school 1960's, Bogrow, which was built during the Victorian era. We were still using inkwells that first year until the Americans rescued us from such primitive writing appliances and supplied our school with biro pens. Alas they couldn’t save us from the trauma of the outdoor toilets which were horrendous. A long row of toilets with no lighting, a narrow corridor to each dirty stall, and the dreaded Izal medicated toilet paper.
One never left that toilet without some residue being attached to your skirt,socks or shoes. My first act of rebellion in life was at age 6 when one day I refused to use it and my mother was called to the school. She challenged the teacher to use it and the teacher refused. Let's just say from then on I was allowed to use the teachers toilets if I needed to go.
The privies my relatives had were not filthy hovels but still primitive to say the least, as was my uncles in the courtyard behind his shop in the mining village, Hetton-le-Hole, we lived.
The image of actually sitting in one and reading a comic is just a bit fun because in reality I don't think I ever wanted to spend a second longer in there than necessary, even if it was clean. Putting aside there was no heating so it was often cold, and at night it was dark and scary, there were always spiders to watch out for.
Rise and fall of outside toilet
NOW
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