Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper: P


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Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper
Extracts from Adam Hart-Davis's book.
(Buy the book from Micheal O'Mara Books, ISBN 1-85479-250-4, hardback 1-85479-245-8, or in the US, ISBN 1570760810.)
Piddle Valley Relief
DHD Photo Gallery---The Photo Lav In January 1991, MP Sir James Spicer opened the new indoor lavatories for Piddle Valley First School at Piddletrenthide near Dorchester.

Privy
This used to be a general word for 'lavatory' or 'toilet' but was used especially for a shed or hut, separate from the house, which contained seats over an earth closet, or sometimes a water closet. Modern dictionaries say privy is an Amercian word for an outside lavatory, but according to the OED, the word privy is 600 years old, and means a private place of ease, a latrine, a necessary; hence privy house and privy stool.

A privy was the normal lavatory in Britain for people living not only in the country, but in industrial towns, until the first half of the twentieth century; it was often at the bottom of the short garden, and was called by various names---'netty' in the north-east [of England] (see inspiration) and 'cludgie' in Glasgow.


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Text extracts from "Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper" copyright (c) 1997. Web extracts first published , updated ✎2023-09-01
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