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fort was well-provided with 'conveniences' and the remains
of lavatories (lavatrina) have been found in thecommander's
house and in the hospital. In addition, there were drains
running out of the centurions' quarters in some of the
barracks as well as in the northeast corner turret that
may have been connected to others. The most impressive
set of latrines, and the one used by most of the garrison,
lay in the southeast corner of the ramparts, right up
against the ramparts. They consist of a deep sewer which
flowed counter clockwise around a central block to an
outlet which ran under the curtain wall next to the corner
tower. |
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| Artist's
Reconstruction of the Latrines |
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central block supported a paved platform and toilet seats
were laid over the deep sewer. None of these have survived
from Housesteads but stone and wooden examples have been
found elsewhere. To the Romans, going to the lavatory
was something of a social occasion so no provision was
made for privacy and the seats were more like a continuous
bench with keyhole shaped openings. The system was flushed
by a system of water channels fed by rainwater and runoff—this
was later supplemented by an enormous cistern with a capacity
of close to 24,000 litres.Another water channel ran around
the perimeter of the central platform so that the men
could wash themselves—the Roman generally used a
'sponge on a stick' in place of toilet paper. Sponges
are not native to British waters so either they were imported
or the men used some local substitute such as moss. Eventually
this water channel became so badly worn as to be unusable
and large basins were provided instead. |
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| Water
Tank for the Latrines |
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2004
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