Sanitation

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What were toilets like in schools long ago?

Behind each school of the 19th Century there were 'dry toilets', which meant that they could not flush as they did not have running water. When somebody used the toilet then they would cover it with a layer of earth ashes. The earth and ashes helped to break down the waste but the toilets would also have to be cleaned out occasionally. Later versions of these toilets had a sort of chemical added.

There are not many remains left of these dry toilets

Dry Toilet

This picture shows what was at one time the toilets of Letterfinish school seen earlier. There is not much remains of these outdoor toilets but we can see the stone base where the original timber seat of this dry toilet would have been. Because this toilet has not been used for about 70 years we can see that time has damaged or destroyed much of the evidence. Notice there was no flushing water.

  nowadays but sometimes you will see evidence of them in the ruins of old schools. We will now see some evidence of what sanitation was like in the mid 1800's and early 1900's by looking at what buildings can tell us.

Hear about toilets in the 1920's


Click here to listen to the audio.

Evidence of Sanitation

Look at this outbuilding which still remains from an 1837 school near Kenmare, which is known as the 'Landsdowne School'. It has this name because it was built on the Landsdowne Estate. The small outhouse with two doors was probably used as outdoor toilets, one for the boys and one for the girls.