Last time, we explored the earliest forms of waste disposal, from prehistoric open-air bathroom breaks to ancient Rome's relatively advanced sewer systems. But after the fall of Rome, things took a turn for the worse. As indoor plumbing vanished and public sanitation collapsed, humanity entered what can only be described as the Dark Ages of going to the bathroom.
Buckle up, friends, because Part 2 is all about chamber pots, medieval moats full of poop, Victorian cholera outbreaks, and the invention of the modern flush toilet. If you thought Roman communal sponges were bad, just wait until you hear about what came next.
The Middle Ages: Chamber Pots, Garderobes, and Dumping Waste in the Streets
After the fall of Rome, sanitation across Europe regressed in a spectacularly unhygienic fashion. The sophisticated sewer systems that once whisked waste away beneath the city streets disappeared and in their place? Pure chaos. With no centralized plumbing, underground drains, and little understanding of disease prevention, medieval Europeans had to improvise—and their methods left much to be desired.
The chamber pot became the MVP of medieval sanitation, though calling it "sanitation" is generous. This was essentially a small ceramic, wooden, or metal pot kept in bedrooms for nighttime use—because who wanted to trek outside to an outhouse (if you even had one) in the dead of winter? It was simple, convenient, and got the job done… until morning when you had to figure out what to do with its contents. There was no discreet plumbing system for the lower and middle classes to make waste magically disappear. Instead, many opted for the most direct disposal method: chucking it out the window.
In bustling cities like London and Paris, this meant that morning strolls weren’t just a time to fetch fresh bread—they were an exercise in dodging airborne excrement. Some cities attempted to enforce rules requiring people to call out a warning before they emptied their pots. Enter the infamous “Gardy loo!” which came from the French regardez l’eau (literally, "watch out for the water"). It was a charmingly polite phrase—except that "water" was absolutely not what was raining down on passersby. If you heard it shouted, you had two options: run for cover or accept your fate.
As you can imagine, city streets reeked. Waste flowed into open ditches alongside roads, mixed with rotting food, animal dung, and whatever else people discarded. These open sewers—if we can even call them that—were repugnant and a breeding ground for disease. Rain would wash the filth further down the streets, sometimes flooding entire neighborhoods with a stew of human and animal waste. And let’s not even get into what happened when you tripped on an uneven cobblestone after a particularly messy night at the tavern.
For the wealthy, however, things were marginally better. Rather than tossing waste directly into the streets (so uncivilized!), they had access to a slightly more dignified solution: the garderobe, which is pronounced "GAR-drohb" (rhymes with "robe") in English. If you want a more French-inspired pronunciation, you can say "gar-der-OBE", with a slightly softer "r" sound. Either way, it’s a much fancier way to describe what was essentially a medieval poop chute!
This was the medieval version of an en-suite bathroom, though “luxury” is a strong word. Garderobes were small rooms built into castles or manor houses, featuring a simple hole in the floor that led down to a pit—or, if you were particularly fancy, straight into the castle moat.
Yes, you read that right. In addition to repelling enemies, Moats also doubled as medieval septic tanks. This might seem like a clever multi-purpose feature, but it created a nightmare of stench, contamination, and unintended biological warfare. Because while it might deter some invaders, it certainly wouldn’t stop the disease-ridden mosquitos breeding in your cesspool. And for the poor souls tasked with dredging and cleaning the moat? Let’s just say no amount of gold could have made that job worthwhile.
If you were nobility but lacked a proper garderobe, you made do with other creative methods. Louis XI of France, for example, preferred to hide his chamber pot behind luxurious curtains—because nothing says "divine right of kings" like pretending bodily functions don’t exist. Meanwhile, Elizabeth I was said to have covered her commode in crimson velvet and lace and attempted to mask the stench with sprigs of herbs. Fancy? Yes. Effective? Absolutely not.
But what about the most famous palace of them all—Versailles? With 2,000 rooms, you’d think it would have had a toilet for every noble, servant, and visiting diplomat. Instead, it had precisely one toilet. The rest of the time, chamber pots reigned supreme, and when the aristocracy found themselves in need, they simply found a convenient spot. It was common for guests at one of Louis XIV’s legendary parties to relieve themselves in the hallways, behind furniture, or even in the manicured gardens. Picture it: a lavish ball, elegant gowns sweeping the floor, and some unfortunate footman realizing too late that the grand fountain was doubling as an emergency urinal.
And the smell? Well, let’s just say that despite its opulence, Versailles wasn’t exactly known for being a fresh and pleasant place to visit. Courtiers would douse themselves and their wigs in fragrance, and even furniture and fabrics were perfumed to battle the ever-present odors. While there's no direct evidence that powdering was specifically used to combat the palace’s stench, perfumed wigs, scented gloves, and pomanders filled with spices were common practices at the time to offset the smell of daily life in an era with limited bathing and poor sanitation.
So, while the Middle Ages were full of knights, castles, and dramatic jousting tournaments, they were also full of absolutely atrocious bathroom conditions. Whether you were a peasant navigating rivers of filth in the streets or a noble desperately trying to out-perfume your chamber pot, one thing was clear. When relieving yourself, privacy and sanitation were nowhere near as important as necessity and convenience.
But as cities expanded and waste began to pile up—sometimes quite literally—it became clear that something needed to change. The centuries ahead would bring about revolutions in sanitation, including sewer systems, flush toilets, and, eventually, a world where not having a bathroom would be considered a crisis.
The 18th and 19th Centuries: The Rise of Water Closets and Sewer Systems (Finally!)
By the 18th century, cities had grown into dense, sprawling metropolises, but sanitation had failed to keep up. Without modern sewage systems, the streets of London, Paris, and other major cities were filthy beyond imagination—a mix of human waste, rotting food, and dead animals. The smell alone could knock a person off their feet, and the sight of rivers clogged with human excrement, industrial chemicals, and discarded carcasses was both common and horrifying.
At the time, most people still relied on privies, chamber pots, or cesspits, all of which had serious drawbacks. Privies were essentially outhouses, often shared by multiple families, and emptied into pits beneath them. When those pits overflowed, they had to be manually cleaned out, which is where the night soil men came in. These unfortunate workers had one of the worst jobs in human history—shoveling out cesspits by hand and carting away human waste in the dead of night to dump it elsewhere. Because the job was so unbearable, they were legally permitted to drink on the job just to cope with the stench, disease, and overall horror of wading through knee-high excrement. If you’ve ever had a bad workday, just remember: at least you’re not a night soil man in 1830s London.
The situation was particularly dire in overcrowded cities like Manchester and London, where as many as 100 people might share a single toilet. And if you think the waste was safely stored, think again. Much of it ended up in the nearest river, which also doubled as the drinking water supply. By the 1830s, the water flowing from city pipes was brown, which was somehow still one of the less disgusting things about it. That same water was teeming with cholera, typhoid, and countless other diseases, leading to massive outbreaks that killed tens of thousands.
Then came the summer of 1858, also known as The Great Stink—a moment so staggeringly disgusting that it literally forced the British government to flee their own building. The Thames River had become an open sewer, and as temperatures rose, rotting human waste baked in the sun. The stench was so overwhelming that lawmakers had to evacuate Parliament, unable to conduct business without gagging. For the first time, sanitation was treated as an emergency, not just an inconvenience.
Faced with another hot summer filled with airborne fecal particles, the government finally agreed to fund a modern sewer system. Led by Joseph Bazalgette, a brilliant civil engineer, the project involved building massive underground tunnels to carry waste away from populated areas safely. Completed in 1865, this system was a game-changer. It didn’t just eliminate the nauseating filth of city streets, but it drastically reduced deaths from cholera, typhoid, and other waterborne diseases. This was, at last, the beginning of modern sanitation.
Meanwhile, a quieter but equally revolutionary innovation changed bathrooms forever: the water closet. Unlike chamber pots or privies, water closets flushed waste away with water, reducing odors and making indoor plumbing far more sanitary. The idea wasn’t entirely new—Sir John Harrington had built an early version for Queen Elizabeth I in 1596, but it never caught on. However, in the 19th century, the growing middle class wanted modern conveniences, and inventors stepped up to deliver.
Enter Thomas Crapper—yes, that was his real name. A plumber and businessman, Crapper was hired by Prince Edward in 1861 to install toilets in royal palaces. While he didn’t invent the flush toilet, he perfected it, marketed it to the masses, and even opened the world’s first bathroom showroom, allowing customers to browse the latest toilet technology. His innovations made flush toilets more common in homes, slowly replacing chamber pots and privies. His name eventually became synonymous with bathroom use, and to this day, people still say they’re “taking a crap” in his unintentional honor.
Despite these major improvements, there was still a long way to go. In many places, indoor plumbing remained a luxury, and large sections of society relied on outdoor privies or shared toilets well into the 20th century. But one thing was certain: the days of tossing waste out the window were finally numbered. The age of modern plumbing had begun, and with it, a new era of hygiene, health, and far easier trips to the bathroom.
The 20th Century: America’s Bathroom Boom and the Dawn of Toilet Paper
At the start of the 20th century, America was still figuring out how to handle its bathroom business. While many European cities had already embraced sewer systems and indoor plumbing, large portions of the United States—especially in rural areas—were still making do with outhouses. These were basic wooden shacks with a hole over a pit, and while they offered privacy, they were far from glamorous. If you were lucky, you had a two-seater, not for socializing but so one could "air out" while the other was in use.
In urban areas, the situation wasn’t much better. Tenement buildings, packed with working-class families, often had one or two shared toilets per floor. Indoor plumbing was an extravagant luxury, and access to sanitation was far from equal. If you lived in a wealthier household, you might have an indoor bathroom, but for millions, the daily routine involved braving the elements to reach a communal outhouse or sharing a single toilet with an entire apartment building.
By the 1920s, things were finally starting to change. Thanks to advances in plumbing and a growing recognition that public health was tied to sanitation, new homes were increasingly built with indoor bathrooms. At first, these were no-nonsense, all-white affairs, a reflection of the era’s obsession with hygiene and cleanliness. The belief was simple: white surfaces made dirt easier to spot, forcing homeowners to keep their bathrooms pristine. A bathroom wasn’t just functional; it was a place to demonstrate how clean and modern you were.
But then came the mid-century bathroom boom, and things got a lot more interesting. The postwar economic boom, suburban expansion, and rise of the middle class led to an explosion in home construction. Bathrooms were no longer a mere necessity—they symbolized comfort and status. No longer was a single bathroom enough; the American Dream now included multiple restrooms. There was a full bath for the family, a powder room for guests, and, for those genuinely living the dream, an en-suite master bath.
The 1950s and 1960s brought color into bathrooms like never before. Pastel pink sinks, baby blue bathtubs, and mint green toilets became the height of style. Were you even trying if your bathroom didn’t look like an Easter egg? By the 1970s, homeowners took things even further. Suddenly, there were shag carpets in bathrooms—an absolutely baffling design choice considering the room’s primary function. Avocado green and mustard yellow toilets became the standard because nothing said luxury like making your bathroom look like a 1970s Tupperware set.
And then, of course, there was one of the biggest game-changers in bathroom history: toilet paper.
Toilet paper had technically been around since 1902, but its adoption was not immediate. Up until then, people wiped with whatever they could find—corn husks in rural areas, old newspapers and catalogs in cities, and, if you were particularly resourceful, yesterday’s mail. The Sears catalog was so commonly used that when the company switched to glossy pages, outraged customers sent letters demanding they switch back to the more, ahem, absorbent paper.
Toilet paper as we know it today—soft, perforated, and on a roll—eventually caught on, though not without resistance. Some people saw it as an unnecessary luxury. Others were suspicious of anything that didn’t come free with the morning news. But as indoor plumbing became more common, so did the desire for a gentler, more convenient wiping experience.
The rise of mass production, combined with effective marketing campaigns, sealed the deal. By the mid-20th century, toilet paper was a household staple, finally putting an end to the centuries-old debate about whether leaves were technically reusable.
As the 20th century rolled on, the bathroom continued to evolve. The 1980s and 1990s saw the rise of spa-like master baths, complete with jacuzzi tubs, double sinks, and—if you were feeling particularly fancy—a small television mounted near the toilet. The bathroom was no longer just a place to take care of business; it was a place to relax, unwind, and occasionally flip through a magazine in peace.
By the dawn of the 21st century, America had fully embraced the idea that bathrooms should be comfortable, stylish, and, most importantly, indoors. A far cry from the days of braving the winter cold to reach an outhouse, modern bathrooms had heated floors, bidets, and even smart toilets that could do everything but answer your emails.
Looking back, the 20th century was nothing short of a sanitation revolution. From shared outhouses to private en-suite bathrooms, from newspaper wipes to quilted toilet paper, every decade brought new advancements that made life just a little bit easier—and a whole lot cleaner.
So the next time you step into your fully equipped, climate-controlled bathroom, take a moment to appreciate just how far we’ve come. And maybe, just maybe, say a quiet thank you that you’ll never have to experience the joys of a corn husk wipe.
The 21st Century: High-Tech Thrones and Smart Toilets
We’ve come a long way from squatting in the woods and tossing chamber pots out the window. Today, toilets aren’t just functional—they’re high-tech marvels designed for maximum comfort and efficiency. Take Japan, for example, where bidet toilets come with heated seats, self-cleaning nozzles, ambient mood lighting, and even built-in sound machines to mask any, ahem, embarrassing noises. Some can analyze your health, offering real-time feedback on your hydration levels. Others can connect to your Wi-Fi, because apparently, no modern appliance is complete without an app.
Public restrooms have also seen an upgrade. Many now feature touchless flushing, motion-sensor faucets, and self-sanitizing toilet seats, all in an effort to keep things as hygienic as possible. If a medieval night soil man time-traveled to the present, he’d probably drop dead at the sight of a self-cleaning toilet that requires neither manual labor nor a clothespin for the nose.
Yet, even with all these advances, the 21st century still struggles with a major sanitation divide. While people in wealthier nations debate gender-neutral restrooms, millions across South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa lack access to basic toilets altogether. In some regions, open defecation remains a reality, leading to the spread of deadly diseases, contaminated water supplies, and devastating child mortality rates.
Recognizing this global crisis, organizations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have poured millions into toilet innovation. The goal? A new kind of waste disposal system that doesn’t rely on sewer infrastructure but instead safely processes waste on-site, turning it into fertilizer or clean water. The idea is simple but groundbreaking: make sanitation a right, not a privilege.
The modern toilet has come a long way from its humble beginnings, but its story isn’t over yet. With sustainability and hygiene at the forefront, the next generation of toilets will likely be even more efficient and eco-friendly and, if Japan has anything to say about it, probably capable of brewing a cup of coffee while you go.
Conclusion: A Royal Flush Through Time
In many ways, the history of toilets is the history of civilization itself. From open pits to castle garderobes, from chamber pots to smart bidets, every improvement has been driven by necessity, public health, and an overwhelming desire to never step in someone else’s mess.
So the next time you flush, take a moment to appreciate just how far we’ve come. And if you ever find yourself romanticizing the past—just remember that Louis the 14th’s guests were pooping in the bushes.
Feeling flush with knowledge after this deep dive into toilet history? Show some love and keep the potty talk flowing at buymeacoffee.com/marypoopins!
And remember—whether it’s a bathroom mystery or a medical one, always consult your licensed doctor! 💩☕
Sources:
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet
American Heritage: https://www.americanheritage.com/bathroom-epic
Stone City: https://www.stonecity.com/blog/evolution-of-the-american-bathroom
BAUS Museum: https://www.baus.org.uk/museum/164/a_brief_history_of_the_flush_toilet
Deutsche Welle: https://www.dw.com/en/a-brief-history-of-the-toilet/a-51310832
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