Chamber Pot, Coatbridge, 1920s

Before indoor flush toilets came as standard, if nature called your options were outside the house – either in the form of a communally shared ‘water closet’ or even worse, a non-flushing ‘dry’ toilet. Chamber pots were usually used during the night so you didn’t have to find your way outside in the dark. They would normally be kept underneath the bed with the ‘night soil’ being emptied out in the morning.

This chamber pot was owned by a resident of Gartsherrie Long Row, Coatbridge, which was built for workers at the nearby Gartsherrie Ironworks. The Gartsherrie Rows were very basic by modern standards, and the last of them were cleared for new housing in the 1960s.