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

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 m ...

in Western Europe and later also in some New World 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 prefix ''rere-'', coming from Anglo-French ''rere'' "backward, behind," from Latin ''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 monks'

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 university s ...

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 a ...

, 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 Conduit may refer to: Engineering systems * Conduit (fluid conveyance), a pipe suitable for carrying either open-channel or pressurized liquids * Electrical conduit, a protective cover, tube or piping system for electric cables * Conduit curre ...

; 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 Roche Abbey is a now-ruined abbey in the civil parish of Maltby, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. It is in the valley of Maltby Dyke, known locally as Maltby Beck, and is administered by English Heritage. It is a scheduled monument and G ...

and the Carmelite Desierto de Los Leones in Mexico to ensure both that these rooms remained fresh and that the effluent 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 Valle Crucis Abbey (Valley of the Cross) is a Cistercian abbey located in Llantysilio in Denbighshire, Wales. More formally ''the Abbey Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Valle Crucis'' it is known in Welsh both as ''Abaty Glyn Egwestl'' and ' ...

in Clwyd.Greene, p. 121.

References

{{Toilets Christian monastic architecture Toilet types Rooms