Elizabeth Clark

Dissertation: 'Noysome and unsavoury discourse': The Design of Privies, Close Stools and Chamber Pots in England, 1550-1650

The act of going to the toilet in the past has rarely been studied, despite being an all-encompassing, everyday event, transcending social barriers and impacting on all areas of life. This dissertation researches the material culture of the early- modern toilet and what that can reveal about social concerns and practices.

Three main objects were used in early-modern England for, as it was often put, 'easement': chamber pots, close stools and privies. The first two are moveable, while the last is structural. Their location within the home is investigated through the use of surveys and inventories. These reveal levels of imposition on the senses, as well as ideas of comfort and cleanliness.

Inventories also disclose the materiality of the objects, as do archaeological discoveries and surviving examples. What they were made from and how they were designed informs how they were used, just as the desire to use an object in a certain way influences its form. The level of decoration and luxury on a vessel that was supposedly functional and humble shows that it was part of the material personality of the household, and was an accepted mode of conspicuous consumption.

Perceptions of toilet objects and the act of using them are gained from contemporary literature, which illuminates notions of disgust, humour and taboo, as well as concerns for personal health, public sanitation, correct conduct and privacy. Privies, close stools and chamber pots reveal sensibilities and habits that are an indication of wider ways of life.