Book about the smallest room to flood market (From Stroud News and Journal)

Book about the smallest room to flood market

A NEW book due to sink the market this year is Bogs, Baths and Basins - The Story of Domestic Sanitation by David Eveleigh.

David is the curator of social history for Bristol City Museum and is one of Britain's leading authorities on the history of household artefacts.

He is currently working as the curator at Blaise Castle House Museum, at Henbury, north of Bristol, once described by Jane Austen in her novel Northanger Abbey as "the finest place in England."

The book is brimming with humour yet expertly explains the history of the toilet and bathroom in a respectful, intelligent and informative manner.

Asked how "he got into the toilet," David said: "I was setting out a row of beautifully decorated porcelain toilets at Blaise Castle House Museum when a beautiful woman shouted "Wow".

Turning round and giving her a broad smile, I was humiliated to discover that she was admiring the toilets."

And he added: "It was then that I realised the toilet could be recognised as an item of absolute perfection and became interested in the whole history of domestic sanitation."

Known as the jericho, closet, privy-midden and the bog, the toilet only acquired its name in the early 1900s.

Recently a 1,000-year-old toilet seat was found in York and has been dated to the Viking period. Its design has changed little to the present day.

Before the water closet was introduced, privies were either situated over running water, with the waste being carried downstream, or the excrement collected in the space under the seat which then had to be carted away.

Even in 1848 many cesspits and privies were not emptied regularly because of the expense and often they were only cleaned out after fever such as cholera had already struck.

David describes the development of water closets as far back as 1592 although it was not until the 1750s that they became more general in the homes of the gentry.

In 1900, 80 percent of the population only had an outside privy and some houses were still without an inside toilet or fitted bath by 2000.

A history of the introduction of toilet paper is also included in the book. The Romans used sponges; Henry VIII used a flannel to "wipe his nether end" and in the 18th century the Earl of Chester advised his son "to use pages from books of poetry."

Other materials included hay, cotton waste and old newspapers. When toilet paper was introduced in 1863, it was primarily used as a treatment for piles and was impregnated with carbolic acid, boiled willow bark, eucalyptus and even opium to disinfect it.

The book discusses the development of the bath and bathroom and describes the rituals and social history of bathing. From the simplest to the elaborate and downright bizarre, all types of toilet, bath and basin are referred to in detail.

Among the many photographs, illustrations, diagrams, sketches and cartoons is the Niagara rocking bath with a round bottom (pictured) which allowed the bather to rock while bathing.

A similar bath is on display in the Museum in the Park, Stratford Road, Stroud.

The bath in the book was made by F Braby and Co whilst the bath in the museum was made locally at Inchbrook, Woodchester and used in a house in Minchinhampton.

* Bogs, Baths and Basins - The Story of Domestic Sanitation by David Eveleigh is published by Alan Sutton Publishing of Phoenix Mill, Stroud, priced £16.99.