Did castles have sinks?

Some castle bathrooms had piped-in hot and cold water. Some lords even had bath mats to protect their feet from the cold. A lavabo, slop basin, or laver was a stone basin built into the wall. It was used as a wash basin and sink for washing the hands before and after meals.



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Castle toilets, also known as garderobes or latrines, would have a plank of wood with a hole held on stone supports through which waste could be deposited.

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In the medieval period luxury castles were built with indoor toilets known as 'garderobes', and the waste dropped into a pit below. It was the job of the 'Gongfarmer' to remove it – one of the smelliest jobs in history?

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Rooms with toilets, cesspools, and drainage systems only started to become common in the 19th century. At the Palace of Versailles, people would conduct their business in the corridors or in the gardens. In 1715, it was decreed that once a week the feces would be collected from the corridors.

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Rats and other vermin flourished inside the walls of medieval towns. Castles — designed to withstand a siege — often contained stores of surplus grain, vegetables, and herbs. Along with their cool, dark interior, these stores provided a superb habitat for rats and mice.

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Arrow slits, also known as loopholes, were narrow openings in castle walls that allowed archers to shoot arrows at attackers while remaining protected behind the walls. These openings were designed to be very narrow, which made it difficult for attackers to shoot back, and also provided protection for the archers.

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After the 16th century, castles declined as a mode of defense, mostly because of the invention and improvement of heavy cannons and mortars. This artillery could throw heavy cannonballs with so much force that even strong curtain walls could not hold up.

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Pressed Dirt Floors: Found in nearly every region of the world, dirt floors were a common sight in early castles. These floors were created by taking dirt from the castle grounds and pressing it into a solid floor. However, dirt floors were very difficult to keep clean and over time, would begin to crack and crumble.

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Most medieval kings would have had a problem finding their arses with both hands. They had to have bum wipers so that someone could make sure they had clean hands before they handled food.

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While it smells fine now, hygiene practices (or the lack thereof) in France during Louis XIII's reign meant that the palace smelled like urine, fecal matter, and more. Some claim that a lack of toilets in the palace even led some visitors to relieve themselves behind curtains and pillars.

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It turns out that those fairy tales you read as a child all left out a very important truth: The moats that surrounded medieval castles weren't just useful defenses against attack; they were also open sewers into which the castles' primitive waste disposal systems flushed human excrement and other foul substances.

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The first stone castles built were cold, dark, smelly and damp. Inside the castle walls, floor coverings consisted of straw rushes and, later, sweet smelling herbs to mask the smell of animal excrement, grease, rotting food and beer.

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