# Lavatorium

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For the toilet facilities of a monastery, see [Reredorter](/source/Reredorter).

A **lavatorium** (plural *lavatoria*), also [anglicised](/source/Anglicisation) as **laver** and **lavatory**, was the communal washing area in a [monastery](/source/Monastery), particularly in medieval abbeys and cathedral [cloisters](/source/Cloister). [Monks](/source/Monk) were required to wash before meals; thus the lavatorium was typically adjacent to the [refectory](/source/Refectory).

## Description

All monastic orders required [handwashing](/source/Handwashing) before meals. A lavatorium was therefore provided near the refectory,[1] either against one wall of the cloister with a long trench basin, or as a free-standing building with a circular or octagonal basin in the centre.[2] An example of the first type, dating to the 14th century, survives at [Gloucester Cathedral](/source/Gloucester_Cathedral), and has a towel cupboard nearby. At [Durham Cathedral](/source/Durham_Cathedral), the lavatorium was a square building with a circular basin which was replaced in 1432–33 with one of marble.[3] At [Wenlock Priory](/source/Wenlock_Priory), the octagonal lavatorium, now ruined, was decorated with late-12th-century carved panels including one of Jesus with the apostles at the Sea of Galilee.[4][5] There were sometimes taps;[6] at Wenlock Priory, the water spouted from animal heads mounted on the central pillar.[7][8]

Running water was supplied in lead pipes, and where there were taps they were bronze, although in most cases in England metal fittings have been removed since the [dissolution of the monasteries](/source/Dissolution_of_the_monasteries).[9] The monks' towels were kept nearby in cupboards called [aumbries](/source/Aumbry) (derived from the Latin *armarium* or from Medieval Latin *almarium*).[10][11] The Refectorian was responsible for keeping the lavatorium clean and ensuring it contained sand and a [whetstone](/source/Sharpening_stone) for the monks to sharpen their knives, and for changing the towels twice a week.[12]

## See also

- [Cantharus (Christianity)](/source/Cantharus_(Christianity))
- [Hygiene in Christianity](/source/Hygiene_in_Christianity)

## References

1. ["Lavatorium"](https://books.google.com/books?id=tuk-AAAAYAAJ&dq=%22A+small+building+in+a+monastery,+in+which+the+monks+washed+their+hands+before+and+aftera+repast.+%22+An+Illustrated+Dictionary+of+Words+Used+in+Art+and+Archaeology%22&pg=PA191), John William Mollett, *An Illustrated Dictionary of Words Used in Art and Archæology: Explaining Terms Frequently Used in Works on Architecture, Arms, Bronzes, Christian Art, Colour, Costume, Decoration, Devices, Emblems, Heraldry, Lace, Personal Ornaments, Pottery, Painting, Sculpture, &c, with their Derivations*, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, 1883, OCLC [4423466](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/4423466), p. 191.

1. J. Patrick Greene, *Medieval Monasteries*, Archaeology of medieval Britain, Leicester/New York: Leicester University, 1992, ISBN 9780718512965, repr. Continuum Studies in Medieval History, London: Continuum, 2005, ISBN 9780826478856, [pp. 8–9](https://books.google.com/books?id=oWYPiRBkkicC&dq=lavatorium+monastic&pg=PA8), [116](https://books.google.com/books?id=oWYPiRBkkicC&dq=laver+monastery&pg=PA116).

1. Greene, [p. 116](https://books.google.com/books?id=oWYPiRBkkicC&dq=laver+monastery&pg=PA116).

1. Greene, p. 116 and Figure 51, p. 117.

1. Lucinda Lambton, *Temples of Convenience and Chambers of Delight*, New York: St. Martin's, 1995, p. 9, plate p. 31.

1. John E. Crowley, *The Invention of Comfort: Sensibilities and Design in Early Modern Britain and Early America*, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, 2001, ISBN 9780801864377, [p. 6](https://books.google.com/books?id=_Igomu7mUbIC&dq=Medieval+Monasteries+lavatorium+clothes&pg=PA6).

1. Lambton, caption p. 30.

1. See Frederick Herbert Crossley, *The English Abbey: Its Life and Work in the Middle Ages*, 1935, repr. Huddersfield: Jeremy Mills, 2007, ISBN 9781905217878, [p. 51](https://books.google.com/books?id=UHFzGrPfXvQC&dq=%22The+English+Abbey%22+lavatory&pg=PA51-IA16) for more English abbeys where there are ruins of lavatoria of both types.

1. Greene, pp. 115–16.

1. Francis Aidan Gasquet, *English Monastic Life*, The Antiquary's Books, London: Methuen, 1904, OCLC [4014493](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/4014493), [p. 19](https://books.google.com/books?id=ux5AAAAAYAAJ&dq=English+monastic+life+aumbries&pg=PA19).

1. ["aumbry"](https://books.google.com/books?id=w00sAAAAIAAJ&dq=English+monastic+life+aumbries&pg=PA107), *The Catholic Encyclopedia* ed. Charles George Herbermann, Edward A. Pace, *et al*., New York: Encyclopedia Press, 1913, OCLC [1391341](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1391341), Volume 2 *Assize – Brownr*, p. 107.

1. Gasquet, [pp. 78–79](https://books.google.com/books?id=ux5AAAAAYAAJ&dq=English+monastic+life+supply+of+sand+and+a+whetstone&pg=PA78).

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Lavatorium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavatorium) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavatorium?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.