How did people go to the bathroom in medieval castles?

Life in the Middle Ages: The Truth About Castle Bathrooms

When we picture medieval castles, we often imagine grand banquet halls, shimmering armor, and epic battles. Yet, daily life inside these stone fortresses involved much more grounded, practical realities—including how royalty and soldiers answered the call of nature.

In medieval castles, toilets were known as garderobes. Far from the modern flushing porcelain we rely on today, a garderobe was typically a small, chilly stone closet built directly into the thick outer walls of the castle. Inside, a user would find a simple wooden or stone bench featuring a hole cut into the seat.

Waste from these facilities didn’t disappear into a modern sewer system. Instead, gravity did all the heavy lifting. The chamber pot or hole discharged straight down through a vertical chute on the outside wall. Depending on the castle's architecture and location, waste fell directly into a subterranean cesspit, a surrounding ditch, or the castle moat.

Interestingly, the word garderobe comes from the French phrase to "guard one's robes." People actually hung their expensive clothes inside or right outside these bathroom chambers. The harsh fumes of ammonia rising from the waste acted as a natural repellent against moths, fleas, and parasites. While the smell was undoubtedly horrific, it kept precious fabrics safe from pests.

Eventually, specialized workers called gongfermours had the unpleasant job of clearing out the accumulated waste from cesspits under the cover of night. While primitive by modern standards, the medieval garderobe was a clever engineering solution that kept castle garrisons functional for centuries.