Sewers

katex · 19-08-2006, 09:24

Probably going to invite a few wise cracks here from certain members, but don't you think it is wonderful, with the push of a handle, everything is swept away to the great cess pit in the sky ? We take these type of services for granted, don't we ? without really knowing the processes involved (well, I don't anyway).

Must read up on the history of our local sewers, weren't they supposed to be some of the best at some time ?

Am I now hitting Rock Bottom .. sorry for the pun .. with my threads ?

garinda · 19-08-2006, 11:53

You have a flush?

You're posh.

I suppose it's an an indoor khazi too?

katex · 19-08-2006, 12:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by garinda

You have a flush?

You're posh.

I suppose it's an an indoor khazi too?

Oh Aye lad, proper posh. Got a square, ivory seat too, with gold handle.

Don't you ever wonder though what people did centuries ago with their ablutions, etc ? Talking middle ages, etc., even Edwardian probably, particularly in towns. We hear fun remarks about '****-pots' being emptied out of windows, but where did they go and were any containers just emptied in the rivers and streams ?

When you were out and about and caught short, did they do it there and then ? Or did they have any sort of public holes in the ground ?

At Skipton Castle is a toilet (seat with a hole really) and this went straight down the drop into the river ... yuk ! Think was probably only for the Lord of the Manor.

Hope ya' not eating your lunch.

grannyclaret · 19-08-2006, 12:51

In the old days..i.e Henry 8th ...The best job was The Keeper of the Stools, the person WHO CLEANED UP THE KINGS BUM,,,yuk.....I dont think i could do that job ..

garinda · 19-08-2006, 12:53

I presume eventually it all ended up in the sea, via streams and rivers.

No wonder now that we treat sewage prawns aren't as plump and juicy as they used to be.

Doug · 19-08-2006, 12:58

I’ve said it before on here; we had a long drop at Church St, Church. Basically it was a hole in two planks of wood over a box, below that was the long drop straight to the sewer below.

I remember having to stand on a specially made lump of red concrete (moulded from a washing up bowl) in order to reach it. We then had a thunder box and a white loo bowl put in around 64. All this was outside at the bottom of the yard next to the bin hole.

In the early 60s my granddad dropped his false teeth down the drop and had to run down to the filter beds the find them. Yes they did find them, but he never wore them again.

I have to say I can still smell the smell that the outside loo had, including the wood bench. I also remember the white washed walls, spiders and I’ll fitting door. We also had a Tin Bath hung outside the kitchen door which would be brought in on a Sunday night in front of the open fire.

We never experienced the luxury of a indoor bog and a proper bath until moving up to Miller Fold in 67/68, Fantastic memories of a life the seems so, so long ago.

garinda · 19-08-2006, 13:06

I think we are probably lucky that the Victorians were such good engineers and builders. If we had to rely on the utility companies today to build, rather than just maintain the sewerage system, I'm afraid we'd have to revert to emptying the po out of the window again.

Gardy loo. (Gare de l'eau.)

It wouldn't be just inclement weather we'd be complaining about if the showers were golden!

katex · 19-08-2006, 13:42

Ok .. knew you would start on about the Utilities and long drops ... these are within our living memories . do remember me Mum telling me about the Muck Carts though and they used to count to 3 and then swing the container up and over to empty the contents on to the back of this vehicle.

Just curious before sewers, etc. Only Grannyclaret given me any imput as yet. x

OK. Will just have to do me own research then !!.

That is, after I have just eaten the remains of my Cumberland sausage, left over from last night's tea.

Love the backhanded Karma someone has just given me .. brill.

Madhatter · 19-08-2006, 17:46

Very clever they were to build those sewres back then with the technology and tools they had available. We rely to much on technology, and when we have to do something manual like that it turns out a complete bodge up. We can't even get a bath fitted straight, let alone god knows how many miles of brick sewer pipes deep under ground. The brick work is amazing, the accuracy is amazing, the whole sewer system is amazing and is still the main system thats in use today all these years on.

When they were digging the first tunnels under the thames, they got a crack in the roof and had to go to the bottom of the thames to fix it. They say that the human waste and human created rubbish at the bottom of the thames was more than six feet deep , lucky he was in a diving suit, what ever they had then.

the sewers wasn't the only thing that are underground though. Williamsons tunnels at liverpool are the work of a true mad man and a pure genious. No one really knows why he paid workers to burrow down and build miles of tunnels interconnecting cellars, rooms, great halls, chambers, and two story underground houses. some say it was just to keep liverpool workers in work, others say he was building an underground city. Most have either been demolished now or are filled with rubbish and ash from bakers shops ovens, but some are being saved, although the government is helping building companies to destroy what is one of this countries greatest wonders.
I've been in some that aren't open to the public, there are cellars, the sub cellars then rooms below that where i was standing on 20+ foot of ash.
If your interested some are open to the public.
Also underground of course is the tube. The tube in london is one of those things like the sewers, but this one people actually go in and think nothing of it. There are many derelict sections of and stations on the tube and some have even had stories written about them- South kentish town by sir john betjemin. Sections of tunnel were built in the war years of these main tube sections as air raid shelters, two floors high, with bunks, but in the end were used for troops mainly. Later becomeing storage areas for government departments. (if you've ever seen the film hidden city it's about secret documents for human chemical warfare experiments being hidden away in these tunnels.)
Then there are of course the secret government tunnels all over the country the ones hidden in hills of train lines and beside motorways. Ever seen those ghost junctions on the motorway that look like they never got built are are there for future development? well one theory is that there's government tunnels near those and that would be the entrance on to the road system for them if needed. Most famous government tunnels are at dover, now a museum.

http://www.williamsontunnels.com/visit.htm
http://www.williamsontunnels.co.uk/view.php?page=about
http://underground-history.co.uk/front.php
http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/featur...ers/index.html
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/s...onProperty.182
http://www.showcaves.com/english/gb/...ireCorner.html
http://www.londonrailways.net/secret.htm
http://www.fictionalcities.co.uk/tunnels.htm

http://www.southernwater.co.uk/homeA...ours/dates.asp

katex · 19-08-2006, 18:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by katex

OK. Will just have to do me own research then !!.

Must say plenty to find in that google, just finding the correct key words, came up with some strange links at times! however, got there in the end. Didn't like to Ask Jeeves, he too much of a gentleman.

Glad to see not just me interested in past toiletries.

Looks like your bit of French was correct Garinda and means 'watch the water' haha. Seems also like most of 'the waste' did find its way into the rivers, and quite a split between nobles and peasants on this issue.

As said, thank goodness for the Victorians !! Appreciate their efforts very much. Was looking at some great toilet seats this afternoon, ones with fishes in, sparkly ones, musical ones, even one with barbed wire embedded in the clear lid !

Here's one link that simplifies it :-

www.bog-standard.org/pupils_history.aspx Our link system seems to be out of action, or could be me.

Thanks Madhatter for all yer efforts, will definitely get around to reading those, love tunnels and things.

Madhatter · 19-08-2006, 19:19

Thanks katie

all that was already in my head or as bookmarks though. It might be boring to some but that's the sort of history I wanted to learn at school, history that shaped my future, that made this country what it is and unusual things interest me like pyramids and stone henge. I don't think humans built those so that interests me. Nobody can explain how they were built, yes they give theories but non of it is fact.
It was actually geography that got me interested in history, the two are so closely related.

grannyclaret · 19-08-2006, 19:51

Thanks for the karma,,,it wasent signed ,so i cant send a p.m.

Ithink it might have been katex!

grannyclaret · 20-08-2006, 13:13

just found this ....who would like this job?????????/

Attention all ambitious noblemen! Following the untimely death of Sir Henry Norris, a new groom of the stool is required by Henry VIII. The primary duty of the groom is to see 'the house of easement be sweet and clear' or, more plainly, to clean the royal rear and privy.
It's always interesting to look at your own stool but imagine looking at the king's and laying it in a dish. As for wiping – with the hands: there is no toilet paper at the Tudor court – just try not to think of the meat-heavy diet of the big man.
This is a challenging position for someone looking for exciting openings, for whom no job is to too big or small. Light relief may be provided by regular enema and laxative administrations. It's a coveted position – no one else will be so often alone with His Royal Highness, so although you will be dealing with number twos, you will be number one in the privy chamber. (And, later, the eminent historian David Starkey will write about you in his doctoral thesis.)

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