288 CONVENIENCES OF THE SMALLER HOUSES 



FIG. 20 1. The Court, Holt, near Bradford-on-Avon. 



have fireplaces, while those away from them have none. As to 

 sanitary conveniences, with the crude means of sewage disposal 

 then in use, it was impossible to have them in the house ; it was 

 only after the introduction of water-carriage that this could be 

 done. In the ancient days of fortified houses it was of course 

 necessary for them to be within the walls, and considerable skill 

 was often displayed in placing them so as to be as innocuous as 

 possible. On Elizabethan plans they were sometimes retained 

 indoors, but they were obviously a source of annoyance and 

 danger ; in later times, they were removed outside, and in old 

 houses, here and there, may still be found evidence of the hand- 

 some treatment provided for the family as distinguished from 



