Virtual Museum

A Brief History of The Flush Toilet

From Neolithic to modern times

It is unclear who first invented the flush toilet. Although archaeological excavations in northwest India have revealed 4000-year-old drainage systems which might have been toilets, it is not clear whether this is genuinely the case.

However, the honour of producing the first toilet goes either to the Scots (in a Neolithic settlement dating back to 3000 BC) or to the Greeks who constructed the Palace of Knossos (in 1700 BC) with large earthenware pans connected to a flushing water supply.

Roman Times

By 315 AD, Rome had 144 public toilets (above right). The Romans treated going to the toilet as a social event. They met friends, exchanged views, caught up on the news and wiped themselves with a piece of sponge fixed to a short wooden handle.

This was then rinsed in a water channel which ran in front of the toilet and reused. It has been suggested that this practice spawned the phrase "getting hold of the wrong end of the stick".

Our junior curator (right) tells you a little more about Roman toilets.

Medieval Times

In Medieval England, people used "potties" and would simply throw their contents through a door or window into the street. The more affluent would use a "garderobe", a protruding room with an opening for waste, suspended over a moat (above right). The name probably comes from the practice of storing robes in the toilet area so that the smell would discourage fleas and other parasites. Peasants and serfs, however, relieved themselves in communal privies at the end of streets. A huge public garderobe was constructed in London and emptied directly into the River Thames, causing stench and disease for the entire population.