Spending a Penny in Sydney Gardens
A walk in Sydney Gardens, Bath, will soon reveal two elegant, dark green, cast iron structures close to the modern toilet facilities that were restored as part of the Heritage Lottery Funded Sydney Gardens Restoration Project (2017–2022). The larger structure is the old Gentlemen’s loos. The other one, nearby, was the Ladies. The loos are part of the social history of Sydney Gardens. Both blocks stand as symbols of the shift towards modern sanitation to improve public health that took place in the later Victorian era.
The Gentlemen’s block was installed on the spot it still occupies by Bath Corporation (the forerunner to Bath City Council) in 1913. This block was designed to accommodate Ladies on the left and Gents to the right as you look into the entrance. However, the entrance for the Ladies was round the back. In 1921 the sexes were separated when a designated facility for women was installed, making the original structure Gents only. The later Ladies block was re-sited away from surrounding trees and shrubs following restoration.
While they can no longer be used for their original purpose, it is still possible to see the layout and some of the fixtures and fittings, which were in use until the 1980s. Both blocks were restored by Ironart of Bath during 2018–2021. The Project was funded by the National Heritage Lottery, BANES, and the World Heritage Site Enhancement Fund.
Trenches and Pits
Before the loos were built, there had been no sanitary provision in Sydney Gardens, even though they had been open to the public since 1795. Neither is there any record of sanitary facilities at the Sydney Hotel (now the Holburne Museum). There had been earth pits and trench urinals somewhere in Sydney Gardens.
Throughout the 1800s, a single event, of which there were many, routinely attracted 3–4000 visitors. The Bath Pageant of 1909 is said to have attracted 12,000 at its closing event which was held in Sydney Gardens.
The first ‘modern’ design for a toilet with a flushing mechanism dates back to 1596. It was designed by Sir John Harington who installed one at his house in nearby Kelston. It wasn’t until 1851, at the Great Exhibition, that the first flushing public toilet was presented and in use. With new sewerage systems being constructed throughout Britain following the development of this novel invention, public conveniences began to spring up in towns and cities across the country. Parks and Gardens were eventually plumbed into these, allowing toilet blocks such as those in Sydney Gardens to be installed.
Ladies Last
Until the early 20th Century, little or no provision was made for women’s sanitary use in public spaces. Some historians have proposed that this would have prevented women going out or away from home for long periods of time as they would have had to return to use their sanitary facilities at home while the men could go out and about more freely — the so-called “urinary leash”.
The demand for women’s toilets really came into force during WW1. With more women entering factories to make munitions it became clear that sanitary facilities would be required for them.
Toilets in the workplace were achieved after campaigning by women workers.
It was not until the 1930s that facilities for women improved and became more hygienic.
Women’s facilities were a basic as men’s but gradually, Powder Rooms and Restrooms were introduced to restaurants and large department stores, meaning Ladies could stay longer and spend more as they could refresh and relieve themselves on site rather than having to return home.
Toilets became a place of glamour — linked to the testing of cosmetics and perfumes, with the matter of hygiene and sanitation being “masked” by attractive décor and pleasant fragrances.
Today’s ladies toilets emphasize cleanliness and hygiene. Their primary function is more obvious while the space for washing hands and putting on make-up tends to be more about speed and ease of use, than lounging and chatting. Ladies toilets are now at the whim of fashion just as much as other interior areas — a far cry from the utilitarian approach of these century-old public conveniences
Design and Construction of the Gents:
The Gents was designed by the Sanitary Engineer William E Farrer, of Smethwick, West Midlands and manufactured by the Star Works foundry in Willenhall, near Birmingham, at a cost of £198. 2s 6d.
The building is a pre-fabrication, made from rectangular cast iron panels inserted into cast iron posts. The roof was probably fitted later and was made from glass panels held aloft by aluminium rods.
During the restoration work, layers of paint were stripped back to an initial coat of bitumen and some visitors have memories of seeing the blocks painted brown. But later layers of paint were a bronze-green, similar to that which can be seen on the restored structures today.
The panel-making process involved the original pattern being carved in wood. A mould was made and cast iron poured in and set. Cast iron was chosen because it was easy to mass-produce as well as being a strong and durable material. The panels were inserted into posts and held in place with lead wedges.
Minutes from a Council sub-committee set up to consider sanitary provision in Bath, show that opinion was divided between on the choice of building material. The choice was between building a stone structure, which would have provided work for local stonemasons and labourers, or the pre-fabricated metal version. In the end the cast iron version was selected on grounds of cost.
It was not an unusual decision; at the time most street furniture was made from cast iron, including lamp posts, tram and bus shelters, park railings and benches. Much of this was removed to make munitions during World War II. During the 1980s and 1990s most of the remainder were replaced with modern street cubicles or more hygienic facilities in shops and cafes.
Since the 1980s
After falling into a state of dilapidation over the decades following their installation, the Sydney Gardens loos were under threat of demolition to make way for the modern stone built toilet and shower block next door. Research, however, discovered that they were only two of four similar iron toilets in the South West. Both blocks were preserved and have been awarded Grade II Listed status by Historic England.
The toilets were “rescued” and restored in 2018–2021, as part of the Heritage Lottery Funded Restoration Project for the whole of Sydney Gardens. Some panels in this block have been replaced with etched glass, allowing visitors to take a look back in time to a piece of utilitarian architecture with which our great-grandparents would have been all too familiar.
The original urinal fittings were ceramic and can still be seen today on the right hand side of the block. Like the metal stalls next door, it had a cistern full of water above, the brackets for which are still in place. Separate pipes fed the water into each urinal and each one would have had a plug hole through which the water and waste would run into the main drain.
The Ladies area that was provided in the original structure was entered through a second doorway at the back of the block. It contained two cubicles with a toilet bowl, a wooden seat and an overhead metal water cistern supported by metal brackets, with a chain pull flush. Privacy was afforded by a hinged painted door. The block was to undergo several modifications over the following years.
After the separate Ladies toilet was built, a metal urinal was installed into the former Ladies area to expand the facilities for the men. To accommodate this facility, a few of the cubicles were removed. You can see the cast-iron urinals for the men to use on the left hand side of the block. You can also see the drain which ran at the back of the stalls and the brackets, which would have held up a water cistern for flushing the waste along the drain. Metal screens divided the stalls. Near the drain, at the back of the urinals, the floor was made from cast iron so the surface could be washed down regularly.
An instruction in the block asking Gentlemen to remember to adjust their dress was cast into the panels themselves. Such reminders were part of the fabric of each urinal. There is no evidence that any form of wash hand basin was provided.
Restoration
The restoration was carried out by Ironart of Bath, a company responsible for much ironwork restoration around the city of Bath. Ironart is a member of the National Heritage Ironwork Group. Work started in 2018.
Both structures were in a severe state of dilapidation, with the Ladies block being invaded by foliage and also having suffered damage from vandalism and people sleeping rough inside the structure. Panels had been smashed and removed to allow access inside.
The Ladies block is the original structure, made to a mass-produced patented design by W Macfarlane & Co Ltd. at the famous Saracen Foundry in Glasgow. The block was dismantled and removed to be worked on while the Gents remained in place. The Ladies was re-sited away from surrounding trees and shrubs. Its glass roof was previously made from obscured pattern glass. This has been replaced with coloured laminated glass and been given a new floor.
It isn’t clear whether the Gents block originally had a roof. Many toilets constructed in the early 20th Century did not. Neither block had guttering.
Both structures were shot-blasted with calcium silicate to remove all existing layers of paint. Original features including latches and brackets screws. Name plates were retained.
All items were then treated with an aluminium primer, this was followed by an undercoat and a top coat of coach gloss paint was added in a bronze-green pigment, similar to that of later layers of paint found during the restoration process. Its new, high gloss finish is expected to fade to a mid-sheen.
A new gate was made for the Gents. It is based on the design of the original gate for the Ladies block, with a new concrete floor. New glass panels for the Ladies were also added.
The glass panels which have replaced some of the original metal ones have been etched in the same design as the metal panels.
In saving these pieces of social history from destruction, an important record of the value placed upon public health and sanitation measures by our predecessors has been retained. The intricate cast ironwork of these attractive structures also celebrates fine workmanship and the rich contribution made by street furniture to the urban landscape.
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Written by Alison Dods, with additional material from Ironart, Kirsten Elliott and Ruth Coleman
Further reading:
Spending a Penny article — Historic England
https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/archive/collections/photographs/spending-a-penny/
Victorian and Edwardian Street Furniture
http://www.hevac-heritage.org/items_of_interest/public_health/street_urinals/street_urinals.htm
No Swinging on Sundays — The Story of Bath’s Lost Pleasure Gardens
By Kirsten Elliott, Akeman Press
Historic UK — The History of Women’s Public Toilets in Britain
https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/History-of-Womens-Public-Toilets-in-Britain/
The History of the First Toilet
https://www.thoughtco.com/who-invented-the-toilet-4059858
Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History — Walter Macfarlane & Co
