Glossary entry

Italian term or phrase:

latrina a caduta libera

English translation:

cesspit

Added to glossary by Federica Masante
May 12, 2005 23:01
19 yrs ago
1 viewer *
Italian term

latrina a caduta libera

Italian to English Art/Literary Tourism & Travel description of an ancient castle
Any ideas of what this could be?

All'angolo nord-ovest della fortezza è situata la latrina "a caduta libera", usata dai soldati.
Proposed translations (English)
4 +6 cesspit
4 +1 garderobe with latrine shaft

Proposed translations

+6
6 mins
Selected

cesspit

free-fall latrine

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Note added at 7 mins (2005-05-12 23:09:05 GMT)
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Tracking Down the Roots Chronology - [ Diese Seite übersetzen ]
.read all about this \"appetizing subject\" at the reference indicated below.

.. or directly -- via \"free-fall\" or by masonry shafts -- into the moats. ...
also the first \"pay toilets\" ... since the early \"latrine\" vendors in Rome. ...
www.sewerhistory.org/chronos/middle_ages.htm
Peer comment(s):

agree verbis : I like the "free fall" :)
6 mins
thanks. I remember the one at my grandparents' house
agree silvia b (X)
1 hr
agree Teresa Reinhardt
2 hrs
agree Krisztina Lelik
6 hrs
agree forli : yes - "free-fall" certainly renders the idea to a lay audience!
9 hrs
agree Eva Cederholm : We have a castle in Sweden with such a free fall (all fall down on the ground on the outside of the castle wall - no tubes - just on the grass, that grew better there... ) I came across this term as a tourist guide. http://www.lackoslott.se/
10 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "thanks!"
+1
48 mins

garderobe with latrine shaft

In those days, toilets were called garderobes.

Bathrooms!:
Yes, later on they actually had bathrooms or what they called a garderobe inside the castle. The actual water closets were a wood constructed closet with a hole in the wooden seat. The plumbing consisted of a passage that led down the inside of the castle walls and opened into the castle's sewer system below. The very rich would use strips of linen as toilet paper.... These garderobes might be contained in privy rooms, a separate room near the Lord's quarters that held a large tub for bathing.

http://www.getmedievalonline.com/building.html

... but officials such as the Captain of the Guard had their lodgings in some of the sparsely furnished upper rooms of the Inner Gatehouse - each main living area was en suite with its own "garderobe" or toilet.

http://www.castletown.org.im/heritage/castle_rushen_p3.html

THE GARDEROBES, LATRINE SHAFT & CESS PIT
The garderobes, the mediaeval toilets, were little rooms or areas jutting out from the castle walls. Benches with holes (and sometimes wooden seats) ran along the wall side and human waste would drop straight down a latrine shaft into the castle ditch or cess pit. Guests can see an original garderobe (complete with whiff) in the Kingmaker attraction at Warwick and two others, wonderfully preserved, in the Barbican. It was the job of the gong farmer to regularly clear the ditch, moat and cess pit.

http://www.warwick-castle.co.uk/warwick2004/pr_2005_guide_to...

Peer comment(s):

agree Amalia Bit : I think this is a much more accurate description of the facilities in an old castle!
7 hrs
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