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Temples of Relief

  • Thread starter Thread starter glaciermint
  • Start date Start date
Are you keen to try it out then Wendy? It's in Sydney Gardens, Bath. I suggest you take your own toilet roll!

Bob
 
Oh yes, and its still a urinal. You have to squat 'French style' and aim!
 
It's probably the only thing it has got Wendy. Set the satnav to BA2 1EE (if that's what you do with satnavs! Haven't been tempted yet)

Bob
 
From the undergrowth to the undergrounds! Just look how ornate they were in Stephensons Place back in the 1920's.
 
Got it Mike spent two years National Service near Bath,worked at Monkton Farly for 6 Months underground. That one in Stephens Place, I aimed for that a few times or one like it.
 
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Locally known as "The Dump" for all the ammunition they kept there and Corsham Alf.

Were you aiming to get to the Gents, or the targets they thoughtfully provided for us down there ? (that might need some explaining to your BRAWimmin!)
 
hi.i looked but could not find any pics of the underground loo,run by a mr tinkle,type attendent,the one in old square.outside of lewis's.
 
I spotted this one today on the corner off Great Barr Street and Liverpool street.
These little gems have saved my life a few times.
 
just popped in as it were.. lol to this thread dont know if this has been posted before.. although I think it might be the same one as PMCs on post 11 ..Alison st ? I have it as Moor Street Viaduct
 

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OtherHalf said:
just popped in as it were.. lol to this thread dont know if this has been posted before.. although I think it might be the same one as PMCs on post 11 ..Alison st ? I have it as Moor Street Viaduct
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Hi there

I remember 2 in Saltley, one just at the back of the Tilt Hammer in Alum Rock Road, the other near Crawford Street on the Viaduct. Also one on the corner of Stratford Place and Camp Hill backing on to the school wall.
Interestingly the School toilet was the other side of the wall. Does anybody remember the 'target' with the bee in the middle on the back of
some urinals. I don't know whose trade mark it was, but I do remember that the bee was a pun on the Latin name for it - Apis!!

Kind regards

Dave.
 
I don't know if it's still there, but, there was one in Crawford Street, opposite our Sunday School 'Crown Mission'.
 
Great thread & great name "Temples of Relief". I prefer "Vespasian"

A little-known fact about the emperor Titus Flavius Vespasianus is that he shares his name with a common word for public latrines in Italian and French. Not only were the antique communal latrines, such as those at Ostia Antica referred to as 'vespasiani', but modern-day urinals in Italy, including the portable plastic versions often seen outside stadiums, also go by that name.

This is quite an unflattering namesake for an emperor who was, on the whole, perceived as being mild, generous and fair. It makes Vespasian possibly the only historical figure to have lent his name to the humble WC (it is a popular fallacy that nineteenth century British plumber Thomas Crapper invented the toilet – the WC had been in use long before his days). In Vespasian's case, there is actually a logical connection – the Flavian emperor was the first to impose taxes on the urine that was gathered from public latrines. This strange custom was practised by textile manufacturers, who used the urine (for its ammoniac content) to process fibres.

It is sad to read of the loss of many of the Birmingham Vespasians, especially as some of them are Grade 2 Listed such as the one at Harborne which has so far escaped the replacement with a superloo https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Upmarket+Harborne+up+in+arms+at+Superloo+plan.-a0105706020 I attach one at Hockley which I don't think has been posted before
 

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Has anyone managed to established wither the ornate cast-iron work was locally made or, as rumoured, from a Glasgow specialist?
 
Frothblower said:
I spotted this one today on the corner off Great Barr Street and Liverpool street.
These little gems have saved my life a few times.
Click to expand...

I also found that Victorian toilet on Great Barr Street / Liverpool Street, while I was going down Fazeley Street.

It's below the unfinished Duddeston Viaduct.


Unused railway viaduct from Liverpool Street, Digbeth - Public toilets at the corner of Great Barr Street / Liverpool Street by ell brown, on Flickr


Unused railway viaduct from Liverpool Street, Digbeth - Public toilets at the corner of Great Barr Street / Liverpool Street by ell brown, on Flickr


Unused railway viaduct from Liverpool Street, Digbeth - Public toilets at the corner of Great Barr Street / Liverpool Street - Nationwide billboard by ell brown, on Flickr


Unused railway viaduct from Liverpool Street, Digbeth - Public toilets at the corner of Great Barr Street / Liverpool Street - Nationwide billboard by ell brown, on Flickr
 
Is a bit of a shame about the graffiti. Then again it is no longer in use. Modern yobs don't care about historic structures like that.

Digbeth is full of graffiti, you should have seen the nearby canals.
 
Its not just Brummies that remembers them. See https://www.paul-gibson.com/history/public-toilets.php, which states that they may have been supplied painted green throughout the country. /it also tells us hown much they cost (at least in Hull, but presumably it would be similar in Brum). Apparently in Manilla they are pink (https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/break...100106-245858/Bayani-shrugs-off-green-urinals ) . Hope Brighton doesn't follow suit!
Apparently, according to (https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=tvRp1whVFUsC&pg=PA500&lpg=PA500&dq=urinals+%22painted+green%22&source=bl&ots=gQaV60YC1x&sig=tae-Kjsd4PURuvEzgqE1eP1SjMU&hl=en&ei=WfzbTIrcI4mLhQe47JXQAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&sqi=2&ved=0CEUQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=urinals%20%22painted%20green%22&f=false ) "The green Man" is slang for a urinal . Never heard it myself
Mike
 
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