Other types вЂ“ the chutes held in the wall вЂ“ channelled the waste down to the base of the building in a more discreet fashion. Waste dropped directly out from underneath the latrine, through a cavity, down the wall and onto the ground, there for all to see (read about some Irish examples for more detail) Sometimes they are contained within the built fabric of the castle, visible as either latrine chutes or as slightly overhanging features held on corbels or beams of wood that once protruded from the wall. These latrines were usually found in the colder northern walls on the first floor of castles, mostly at a corner edge as far away from the main entrance as possible вЂ“ but not always. Image credit:В Txllxt TxllxT, CC BY-SA 4.0/ wikimedia commonsД¬astle 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.

View up into a medieval toilet outlet at a castle in Carcassonne. Toilets werenвЂ™t as dirty and smelly as youвЂ™d think. At other times, the household might be smaller such as during a womanвЂ™s confinement before birth and just after ( see Rachel DelmanвЂ™s work on this).Дў. Numbers in the household could swell at times of celebration such as Easter, or when they received guests, who might stay for months at a time. Then there would be people associated with the different areas of the household from the kitchen, stables, guards, carers for the children, personal attendants to the lord and lady and those who carried out religious duties. The moving household could be anywhere from 30 to 150 people it would have included the lord and lady as well as their children (which could go into double figures вЂ“ for example Queen of England Eleanor of Aquitaine had 10 children). While castles were homes, they werenвЂ™t permanent residences вЂ“ the lord, lady and household moved from castle to castle and took their things with them вЂ“ beds, linen, tableware, tapestries, candlesticks, chests and perhaps even plants in pots! This means that the resident household at a castle would usually be very small and most of the rooms were shut up.

Not many people lived there for much of the time. Bodiam Castle by Adam Kumiszcza CC BY-SA 4.0/ wikimedia commonsДЎ. Here she tells us some unexpected facts about daily life in medieval castles. Dr Karen DempseyвЂ™s research tells the stories of medieval peopleвЂ™s lives through the objects they used and cared about, in the spaces where they lived and worked.

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