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The reredorter or necessarium (the latter being the original term) was a communal
latrine A latrine is a toilet or an even simpler facility that is used as a toilet within a sanitation system. For example, it can be a communal trench in the earth in a camp to be used as emergency sanitation, a hole in the ground ( pit latrine), or ...
found in
mediaeval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
in
Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
and later also in some
New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...
monasteries.


Etymology

The word is composed from
dorter A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...
and the
Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old Englis ...
prefix ''rere-'', coming from Anglo-French ''rere'' "backward, behind," from
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
''retro''; it was coined in the 19th century. The mediaeval term was ''necessarium'' (place of necessity).


Siting and features

It was normally attached to the south end or the east side of the
monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedic ...
s'
dormitory A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or universi ...
or "dorter" on the east of the main
cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against ...
, that is, the end away from the church,Geoffrey N. Wright, ''Discovering Abbeys and Priories'', 4th ed. Princes Risborough: Shire, 2004,
p. 27
with seats arranged on the first floor of the building allowing direct access from the dormitory. Waste fell down chutes or between walls (as far as )J. Patrick Greene, ''Medieval Monasteries'', Archaeology of medieval Britain, Leicester/New York: Leicester University, 1992, , repr. Continuum Studies in Medieval History, London: Continuum, 2005,
p. 121
and was usually carried away by a stream, river or conduit; availability of a suitable stream was often a factor in siting a monastery, and some monasteries have unusual ground plans to enable facilities such as the reredorter to have access to the water. Sophisticated water engineering was used at
Cîteaux Abbey Cîteaux Abbey (french: Abbaye de Cîteaux, links=no ) is a Catholic abbey located in Saint-Nicolas-lès-Cîteaux, south of Dijon, France. It is notable for being the original house of the Cistercian order. Today, it belongs to the Trappists ...
, Roche Abbey and the Carmelite Desierto de Los Leones in Mexico to ensure both that these rooms remained fresh and that the
effluent Effluent is wastewater from sewers or industrial outfalls that flows directly into surface waters either untreated or after being treated at a facility. The term has slightly different meanings in certain contexts, and may contain various pollu ...
did not pollute water needed for cooking and washing. There appear to have been as many seats as there were monks, separated by screens, and each with a window. In some monasteries there were two reredorters, one for the monks and one for the
lay brothers Lay brother is a largely extinct term referring to religious brothers, particularly in the Catholic Church, who focused upon manual service and secular matters, and were distinguished from choir monks or friars in that they did not pray in choir ...
. The lay brothers’ reredorter was most often to the west of the cloister, attached to their dormitory in a similar way to that of the monks. An example was at Valle Crucis Abbey in
Clwyd Clwyd () is a preserved county of Wales, situated in the north-east corner of the country; it is named after the River Clwyd, which runs through the area. To the north lies the Irish Sea, with the English ceremonial counties of Cheshire to th ...
.Greene, p. 121.


References

{{Toilets Christian monastic architecture Toilet types Rooms