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Hello Local History fans, today is World Toilet Day, raising awareness of the 4.2billion people living without safe sanitation, and with that in mind we’re bringing you important history about toilets in Leeds. #WorldToiletDay #LibrariesFromHome
https://www.worldtoiletday.info/
https://www.worldtoiletday.info/
3-7 Little Town Lane – shared outside toilet yard at the end of a row of terraces. Click through to see more comments from people who lived with these ‘middens’
“It was horrendous because the outside toilets were used by more than one household” http://Leodis.org comment.
“It was horrendous because the outside toilets were used by more than one household” http://Leodis.org comment.
The first outside loos were sanitary saviours as they replaced houses with nothing, but even then your loo would be shared with neighbours. Researcher J.Harrison talks toilets in her back-to-back housing articles
https://secretlibraryleeds.net/2017/05/22/back-to-back-houses-and-their-communities/ https://secretlibraryleeds.net/2017/09/20/walking-tours-of-the-back-to-back-houses-harehills/
https://secretlibraryleeds.net/2017/05/22/back-to-back-houses-and-their-communities/ https://secretlibraryleeds.net/2017/09/20/walking-tours-of-the-back-to-back-houses-harehills/
“In public toilets they were sure to meet other men” this Historic England article and the one from #SecretLibraryLeeds discuss how toilets were used as places men were forced to meet due to England’s draconian Homosexuality laws
https://secretlibraryleeds.net/2020/01/17/male-homosexuality-in-britain-1954-70-the-leeds-link/ https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/lgbtq-heritage-project/meeting-and-socialising/indecent-behaviour/
https://secretlibraryleeds.net/2020/01/17/male-homosexuality-in-britain-1954-70-the-leeds-link/ https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/lgbtq-heritage-project/meeting-and-socialising/indecent-behaviour/
Here is the Public Conveniences Map of the #Leeds District from 2001. The black dots represent the areas where there are available public toilets. You never know what you are going to find in the Local and Family Collections! #Maps @MuseumToilets @OldYorksMaps @OrdnanceSurvey
For today’s Leodis archive #ThrowbackThursday we have Fox Terrace nos. 7 - 15, #Hunslet, from 1958. The back-to-back terraced houses each had a private walled garden. At the bottom of 11, 13 and 15 gardens are small structures built to house the shared outside toilets.
And that is it from the Local and Family History department for this week. Don’t forget that you can still contact the Local and Family History and Leodis team at this time, by email or by leaving a voicemail. Full contact details can be found here: http://leeds.gov.uk/localandfamilyhistory.
