Bogs, Baths, and Basins: The Story of Domestic Sanitation

Toilets, baths and washbasins are taken for granted in today's privileged society, but they are some of man's most indispensable facilities. How did they come about, and how did we live without them? From Roman times right up to modern-day luxury, David J. Eveleigh leads us chronologically through the story of sanitation. He briefly covers the early rather primitive sanitation devices such as cesspits and urban dung heaps, and moves on to describe the advances that came with the onslaught of developing technology from the 17th to the 20th century. Victorian developments in water supply and the growth of piping and steam-powered pumps finally lead to the comparative comforts of today. The progression of baths and washbasins is also followed, with evidence of their practicality rising as they became fixed rather than moveable, eventually resulting in the arrival of the en-suite bathroom in the 19th century.