Introduction to outside ‘stick’

“REG MULHERON had never heard of two-seater toilets before his visit to a St Andrews museum,” a Perth reader notes. “He was even more surprised to hear about a six-seater toilet and asked whether such toilets were peculiar to North Fife.

“I don’t think so. I was evacuated from Dundee to Rickarton near Stonehaven in 1939 when I had my first introduction to an outside ‘stick’ – the ‘dry’ toilet in the back garden,” he says.

“We children were encouraged to use the edge of surrounding fields, because the ploughman dad had the task of emptying the bucket toilet and burying the contents.

“My sister and I returned home after six months, but we kept up with the Rickarton families who had welcomed us. Mr Taylor, the head of my country family, was, at one point, grieve at Balchimmy, a farm in Cushnie, near Alford.

“I cycled up there from Dundee one summer at the age of 12 and was amazed at the size of the stables. It was still a big, working farm, but tractors had replaced horses and the stable-block was empty, although it had stalls for some 20 horses.

“There was an enormous midden surrounded by the stables and byres. These were cleaned out and the muck deposited on the midden. An open-sided wooden shed was built over this midden and it contained a long bench into which were cut six toilets opening onto the midden below. There was no need to empty them and bury the contents – a practical arrangement for the lads from the bothy.

“Mediaeval castles had the same arrangement. I have seen several castle toilets with accommodation for two or more people.”