The Extinction of the Public Convenience

Thirty years ago Clydesdale boasted over twenty public toilets, conveniently sited in most towns, villages, and public parks. Not all were the most pleasant of facilities; vandalism, poor maintenance, and antisocial behaviour were a constant problem, however they served their purpose at a time of need. All were consigned to history in 2015 when the Council closed all remaining public toilet facilities. A handful of old toilet blocks still survive, boarded up and abandoned; the relics of a more considerate and less desperate age.

Toilet arrangements for Victorian working folk were rough, ready and a little shocking to modern sensibilities. It was not until the very end of the 19th century that local authorities began constructing public conveniences to combat the menace of public urination, considered as “an affront to public decency and health”. The earliest facilities were simple street urinals, often consisting of little more than a modesty screen and an open drain, It seems that Carluke’s first public urinal was particularly nasty,, described as “a disgrace… and at certain times takes more than courage to enter it…… a certain dullness of the olfactory nerves is also necessary”. In Lanark, a urinal at Marketend was similarly problematic and deemed to be “in an undesirable position facing the public road.”

Clydesdale’s first “proper” public convenience came about as a consequence of the Lanark International Aviation Meeting that took place in August 1910. Following announcement of the prestigious event the Lanark Merchants’ Association called for “decent lavatory accommodation for the premier burgh of Scotland, where thousands of strangers visit annually.” The Council hurried leapt into action and a public convenience was built (in St Leonard St.?), although it was later considered that in the hurry it was ”a mistake to have put them where they were”. The following year an underground toilet was constructed at the end of the High St. – “substantially built and lined with brick tiles, containing as well (as urinals) , the penny-in-the-slot arrangement”. The Burgh could then boast two public conveniences for men, and one for ladies.

During the 20’s and 30’s Biggar and Carluke followed Lanark’s example and provided proper public lavatories, The surviving disused public convenience in Carluke, at the junction of Thomson Street with Carnwath Road, seems to be a 1960’s creation, and is notable in offering gents, ladies and disabled facilities.

Lanarkshire County Council were responsible for public toilet provision in smaller settlements, and adopted a standard architecture for the neat toilet blocks, serving ladies and gents, that were built between the 30’s and the 50’s. Three surviving former toilets, at Forth, Carnwath, and Douglas, are all similarly-styled harled structures with a neat hipped roof.

The public conveniences at Forth were built in 1953 after many years of campaigning. Attractively set in public gardens with a magnificent view over the open country towards Tinto hill, they were particularly welcome after local football matches.

The conveniences at Carnwath lay at the centre of the village, beside the town hall at the Mercat Cross.

Those at Douglas were similarly at the heart of the community, and conveniently located for travellers, The Douglas toilet has some nice embellishments, including neat cast-iron signs, and is listed as a “building at risk”, with the roof now in a poor condition.

The sad derelict toilets seem symbols of wider change. Long established communities that once hosted public conveniences for locals and travellers have also lost their pubs, hotels, banks, and shops in recent years, along with much else that once seemed vital to community life. New ways must be found to sustain the warmth of community and heritage that make such places distinctive and special. In a similar way, although people still have the same bodily functions, they must now find new ways to discharge them.