A TIMELINE OF TOILETS
By Tim Lambert
C 2,300 BC At Skara Brae in Scotland stone huts have drains with cublicles over them. They may have been toilets. C 2,000 BC In Northwest India and Pakistan towns are built with networks of sewers. Toilets are flushed with water. C 1,800 BC On Crete some toilets are flushed with water C 1,200 BC In Egypt rich people use a container with sand, which is emptied by slaves. C 100 AD In Rome sewers collect rainwater and sewage. There are public lavatories. The Romans have a goddess of sewers called Cloacina. 476 The Roman Empire falls and in Western Europe sophisticated plumbing vanishes for centuries 12th Century Monks in Portchester, England build a stone ledge on a wall overhanging the sea. The ledge has holes in it and the tide carries away sewage. 1200 In castles the toilet is a vertical shaftcut into the thickness of the walls with a stone seat on top. 1500 Ordinary people often use the leaves of a plant called woolly mullein as toilet paper 1547 People are forbidden to go in the courtyards of royal palaces 1596 Sir John Harrington invents a flushing toilet but the idea fails to catch on. People continue to use cess pits, which are cleaned by men called gong farmers. 1775 Alexander Cumming patents a flushing lavatory 1778 Joseph Brahmah makes a better design 1850 Earth closets are popular. When you pull a lever granulated clay from a box covers the contents of the pan. 1852 The first modern public lavatory opens 1857 Toilet paper goes on sale. It is sold in sheets. 1883 The vacant/engaged bolt is invented 1884 The first pedestal toilet pan is made 1900 For the first time some houses for skilled workers are built with inside lavatories 1928 Toilet paper on rolls goes on sale 1942 Soft toilet paper goes on sale 2001 The World Toilet Organisation is formed