The remains of the stone-built latrine (latrina) at Housesteads Fort on Hadrian’s Wall in northern England. There are two deep sewers that flushed away the waste, positioned either side of a raised platform. The central area carried wash basins and had water channelled in for the soldiers to cleanse themselves with after “performing their duty” on benches with with apertures above the sewer.
Beyond the latrine, the scene is of open green fields with some trees. The sky is mostly clouded but a brief patch of blue appears top right.
Camera: Panasonic DMC-TZ8
An information sign at Housesteads Roman fort illustrates how the soldiers might have used the communal latrines. The wording in the left says:
A COMMUNAL LATRINE
With up to 800 men living in the fort, good hygiene was essential to keep them healthy. This latrine (latrina) is an exceptional survival and reveals the clean, communal attitude to hygiene in the Roman world.
The latrine has a deep sewer, originally covered with a wooden floor and benches with holes to form multiple toilet seats. The sewer was flushed by rainwater brought from all over the fort in drains, and out via a culvert under the fort wall. In dry spells, flushing was with rainwater collected from the roofs of nearby buildings and stored in stone tanks - two survive outside.
The central platform has a channel along which water flowed for washing. Two stone basins were used instead when water supply was restricted. We do not know what soldiers used for toilet paper: sponges were available in the Mediterranean but at Housesteads, it may have been moss, bracken or rags.
Above: The outside of the latrine, in the south-east corner of the fort next to an angle tower, as it may have looked in the third century AD.
Reconstruction by Katherine Wilson
Above: Inside the latrine at Housesteads, as it may have looked in the third century AD.
Reconstruction by Philip Corke
FELIX SAYS...
These are the toilets.
The water drains down the hill so the waste is flushed away from the fort. I come here for a chat with my mates!
We’ll all go together when we go. At a Roman fort on Hadrian’s Wall at the frontline of Empire communal lavatories meant just that. The soldiers sat on benches on either side of a central wash area and did their business in full view of each other.
#RomanSiteSaturday #RomanBritain
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