Medieval castle toilets, called garderobes, dropped waste directly into the moat through vertical chutes.

Medieval sanitation relied heavily on gravity and the design of the garderobe, a term derived from the French word for 'wardrobe' because people believed the ammonia from urine protected clothes from moths. These structures were typically built into the thick outer walls of castles during the 11th to 14th centuries. A famous example is Bodiam Castle in East Sussex, England, built in 1385, which features 28 garderobes that drained directly into its wide moat.The engineering was simple but effective for the time. A stone bench featured a hole that connected to a vertical shaft or a sloped chute. This design ensured that waste exited the building immediately, preventing the buildup of toxic gases inside the stone chambers. However, this convenience came at a cost to the castle's external environment. The accumulation of waste in the stagnant water of a moat created a significant health hazard and a foul stench that could be detected from a distance.Archaeological studies, such as those conducted by English Heritage, show that these chutes were sometimes used as points of entry for attackers. In 1204, during the siege of Château Gaillard in France, legend suggests that French soldiers entered the castle by climbing up through the latrine chutes. Despite these vulnerabilities, the garderobe remained the standard for European noble sanitation until the invention of the flush toilet by Sir John Harington in 1596.