British Toilets

British toilets can be surprisingly mysterious, especially regarding their flushing mechanism. They are usually built back into the wall, or at least into a cabinet. That suggests either:
— A great deal of confidence
— A shortage of foresight

Here are two of the toilets at the Castle Rock Hostel in Edinburgh, Scotland.

See how the tank and flushing mechanism are embedded in the wall.

Also see the Trompe l'Oeil Toilet Page, where one of these fixtures is featured in detail.

Ruins of the toilets at Glastonbury Abbey, in Somerset, in south-western England, used from the late 1100s into the 1200s. See about these in detail on the Arthurian Toilet Page.

Ruins of the toilets at the Saint Andrew Cathedral Priory, in Scotland. See about these in detail on the Medieval Ecclesiastical Scottish Toilet Page.

At left, Roman toilets at Vercovicium Fort, a part of Hadrian's Wall, Northumberland, in northern England.

At right, Roman toilets at Vindolanda Fort, also near Hadrian's Wall.

See these in detail on the Imperial Roman (Britannia) Toilet Page.

The Neolithic settlement of Skara Brae, including what is believed to be toilets attached to each of the eight interconnected dwellings.

See the Neolithic Toilets page for details.

19-century Scottish industrial samples at the National Museum in Edinburgh.

See about these in detail on the 19-Century Scottish Toilet Page.

The toilet in the formerly secret UK government bunkers tunneled into the cliffs above Dover.

Some of the tunnels date from the Napoleanic Wars, but they were greatly expanded during World War II. The UK anti-aircraft operations were controlled from here — radar and other data was gathered and interceptors were dispatched from here. See my page with many pictures from there.

Also see the Loos with Views page.

This is Winston Churchill's private room within the Cabinet War Rooms in London. See the page on Winston Churchill's chamber pot, visible here, for more.

A sturdy all-steel toilet at The Tron pub, in Edinburgh, Scotland. See the Stainless Steel Toilet page for more of this design.

Walking along the Avon River path between Bristol and Bath in the UK, and interested in a public toilet rather than secluded bushes? At left, this is what you'll find. See the Stainless Steel Toilet page for more of this design.

This pub toilet in Dunfermline, Scotland, has an unusually sturdy latch and lock.

The toilet in a washroom on board an Airbus A330 en route from London to Detroit.

This is one of the toilets against the fuselage skin, not one of the only slightly more roomy center ones.

Why do your ears sometimes feel pressure changes when you flush an airline toilet? Because the vacuum flushing may cause the pressure altitude within the tiny toilet cabin to quickly jump 5 to 20 meters, say from about 2000m pressure altitude to 2015m.

For other odd A330 photographs, see my Gallery of Crash Dump Screens. The seatback entertainment systems run an embedded version of the Linux operating system. The OS is fairly stable, but the application is not.

On the Great Northern Railway train between London and Edinburgh, UK. Although it's a very nice and modern train, they still give the traditional advice regarding train toilets:

Magnets! MAGNETS!! LOOK OUT!!!

Some of the UK railways put magnets in their train toilet seats and lids. I have no idea why they do this.

Perhaps more mysteriously, they warn you about it.

See the Toiletological Signage page for more toilet signs.

National Express buses in the U.K. also have on-board toilets. This is from an overnight bus from Edinburgh to London (about 7 hours).

Also notice the sign —
Do not even attempt to pee standing!
That also helps to keep things clean.

See the Toiletological Signage page for more toilet signs.

Citylink buses connect cities and towns within Scotland. As bus toilets go, these are the nicest that I have encountered. Constructed about like aircraft toilets, and very clean.

Below is a picture of a Citylink bus passing through Pitlochry, Scotland on the route from Edinburgh to Inverness.

See the Bus Toilet page for more toilets on buses.

The M/V Hamnavoe ferry links the Orkney Islands with the north coast of Scotland.

Several sailings a day, 90 minutes en route each direction.

Here are the heads.

The M/V Isle of Mull is one of the many ferries connecting the Inner Hebrides islands with the west coast of Scotland.

Here is one of the heads as photographed during a trip from Oban to Craignure on the Isle of Mull.

See the Ship Toilet page for more toilets on ships.

Rose George's The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters is a fascinating description of sanitation conditions around the world. "2.6 billion people don't have sanitation. [....] Four in ten people have no access to any latrine, toilet, bucket, or box."

In September 2009, Morna Gregory and Sian James published a book titled Toilets of the World. It's pretty much the same theme that you find here — photographs and commentary on other people's plumbing.

If you're not bored yet, you might be interested in (or at least tolerate):

• Travel suggestions
• Back to Bob's home page....