Strange cap over what may be an old manhole

[PhilJ W]

My wife's parents semi built new in the north of England  around 1950 came with bathroom and toilet upstairs and a separate coal shed with attached toilet just outside the back door - really very practical.

 

Ray

My parents council house had a similar arrangement, built c. 1951.

[hayfield]

Fair enough. I'm well aware of outdoor toilets being retained in older properties. My brother lived in a c1900 terrace in a not too deprived area of Leicester which had an outside dunny, certainly up until about 1990 and probably much later. I've just always been under the impression that the 1920s push for better quality housing stock, particularly by local authorities whose builds seem to have been largely pretty well regarded, included "modern" sanitary arrangements. I'm fairly familiar with the c1930s Council House semi designs used in Bristol, for example, and I don't recall any that showed evidence of older arrangements.

 

One lives and learns.

 

The house we now live in despite formerly being a council house was designed to be visually appealing not just box like, but had no inside toilet and no bathroom at all. One of the updates (to all the properties) was to cut the kitchen in half separating the under stairs pantry from the kitchen, re-site an internal wall to give the kitchen sone extra space, add an extra toilet upstairs by taking space from the smaller third bedroom. the outside toilet was decommissioned and turned into a shed 

 

The problem with the renovations was that the kitchen became very small as did the third bedroom. Still with an extra 36 square meter extension these issues have been addressed and by loosing one of the 2 airing cupboards upstairs we will have an ensuite upstairs  

[PatB]

My wife's parents semi built new in the north of England  around 1950 came with bathroom and toilet upstairs and a separate coal shed with attached toilet just outside the back door - really very practical.

 

Ray

 

My parents council house had a similar arrangement, built c. 1951.

 

Very practical I agree. Indeed Chez B has a toilet opening off the front porch. When built, both toilet and bathroom were accessed only via the porch (which, given that Chez B dates from c1967 rather pours cold water on my previously stated beliefs, but this is another country ). A previous owner installed a bathroom (well, shower room really) in one of the bedrooms, turned the previous bathroom into a laundry/utility room and left the outside toilet in place. It is, indeed, very practical, if rather chilly in winter.

[Dunsignalling]

My parents council house had a similar arrangement, built c. 1951.

Seems to have been common practice in the west country at that time, too. Very practical if gardening etc.

 

The house where I grew up also had a dedicated laundry area, complete with a gas-fired "copper" and a decent sized workshop, all on the other side of a covered walkway which strangely only had a door at one end as built IIRC. 

 

Variously altered to provide a second bathroom in recent years.

 

John

Edited August 17, 2018 by Dunsignalling

[rab]

All this talk of outside loos reminds me of the story

I heard about the young couple who went house hunting.

 

They looked at a 2 up, 2 down cottage, which the young man fell in love with, but the young lady didn't seem so keen on. When he asked her why, she said "There's no toilet" .

The old lady who lived there overheard the conversation

and offered to show them where it was. She led them to the bottom of the garden where sure enough was the shed with the loo. The young lady looked at it and said "Well I suppose it would do for the time. There's only one problem,

there's no lock on the door". "My dear" says the old lady, "I've been here nearly 50 years and no ones ever stolen the bucket".

Edited August 17, 2018 by rab

[Fat Controller]

All this talk of outside loos reminds me of the story

I heard about the young couple who went house hunting.

 

They looked at a 2 up, 2 down cottage, which the young man fell in love with, but the young lady didn't seem so keen on. When he asked her why, she said "There's no toilet" .

The old lady who lived there overheard the conversation

and offered to show them where it was. She led them to the bottom of the garden where sure enough was the shed with the loo. The young lady looked at it and said "Well I suppose it would do for the tine. There's only one problem,

there's no lock on the door". "My dear" says the old lady, "I've been here nearly 50 years and no ones ever stolen the bucket".

My paternal grandmother's house had rudimentary plumbing facilities into the 1970s; water was from an outside tap, shared with two other cottages, and the toilet was outside, next to the coalhouse. However this toilet was a 'modern' addition- the original had been at the bottom of the garden, sharing a roof with a pig-sty. Such arrangements were not uncommon in the western part of the South Wales coalfield.

Grandmother used to lecture us on the perils of drink, saying that one of the neighbours (she was very vague about which) had come home the worse for wear, gone to the 'ty-bach', opened the wrong door, and been eaten by the pigs

[eastglosmog]

I went to investigate a claim of mining subsidence damage in south west Wales in the mid 1980s.  The house was only about 15 years old, but only had an outside toilet - the owners had no intention of installing anything so unsanitary as an inside toilet, either!

[PhilJ W]

I went to investigate a claim of mining subsidence damage in south west Wales in the mid 1980s.  The house was only about 15 years old, but only had an outside toilet - the owners had no intention of installing anything so unsanitary as an inside toilet, either!

Many Romany Gypsys will not have an inside toilet as it is considered insanitary.

[chris p bacon]

Many Romany Gypsys will not have an inside toilet as it is considered insanitary.

 

I know......have you ever cleared up behind them...it's like a dirty protest in the great outdoors.

 

Dirty B*stards leave it as traps for the unwary.

[37114]

Our house was built in the late 60s and while there is a toilet upstairs in the bathroom, the downstairs toilet required you to go outside as it was behind the garage but not joined to the house. Most of the houses have been extended so the toilet is now part of the house, but a friend's house is still original, our kids are amazed by the idea!

[runs as required]

In 1964 we were the first in Grafton St, Liverpool 8 (overlooking Brunswick and Herculaneum and the Dingle LOR tunnel) to build a bathroom with inside toilet over the single story offshot*. 

Kids continually knocked on our door with "Please Mister can I go on your toilet?"

dh

*The Building Byelaws at that time did not allow reduction of the minimal backyard area so we had to go up.