Last week, we told of “urine deflectors” – rounded brickwork that Victorians installed in dark, town centre corners to dissuade drinkers from coming out of the pubs and concealing themselves in the corners to answer the call of nature. The brickwork not only closed off the corner but was designed to repel the urine so it dribbled back on the urinator.
READ FIRST: GOING IN SEARCH OF THE URINE DEFLECTORS OF STOCKTON
London and Norwich are full of such deflectors, we established, and Bishop Auckland also seems to have had its fair share.
Urine deflectors in Castle Chare in Bishop Auckland. Picture: Paul DobsonIn the past, Castle Chare would have been an ideal place to relieve oneself. It is just off the Market Place, once full of pubs, and it used to be a dark alleyway dropping down to the Gaunless – there’s a horse water trough at its foot where the poor animals were given refreshment before hauling loads up the steep Castle Chare into the Market Place.
In 1930, the wide Durham Road was driven through this area of town, and Castle Chare all but disappeared, although the side with a couple of urine deflectors on it has, thankfully, been preserved.
Urine deflector in Bakehouse Hill, Bishop Auckland. Picture: Paul DobsonThen Paul takes us to Bakehouse Hill. It is on the other side of the Market Place, between the mining art museum and the back of the Town Hall.
Bakehouse Hill is not a hill – “it is 39 yards long and flat”, says Paul – but it would once have been a dark alley, ideal for unsanitary purposes. Consequently, there appears to be a long deflector which would have made sure any widdle bounced back onto the widdler’s trousers and shoes and so detered him from relieving himself.
Urine deflectors are an example of “hostile architecture” which was designed to deter people from doing something.
The Wetherspoons in the Market Place in Bishop with a little fence on the right to stop undesireables loitering in the corner. Picture: Google StreetViewOpposite Bakehouse Hill in the Market Place is a grand 18th Century townhouse, with a broad bow window, that is now a Wetherspoons pub.
The broad bow window looks very impressive but it creates a spot to the side of it where undesireables might conceal themselves and accost either the householder when he comes out of his front door or any passing bishop.
So someone many decades ago has installed “spear-headed wrought-iron railings” in the corner to deter anyone from using it as a place of concealment.
The spear-topped anti-loitering fence in Bishop Auckland. Picture: Paul DobsonIf Bishop Auckland has all of these wonderful adornments, there must be many others dotted around unnoticed. Please let us know if you’ve spotted a urine deflector or some hostile railings. Email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk
The George in Stockton High Street with Exchange Yard beside it to the rightTHIS gush of information about urine deflectors was sparked by a suggestion in Private Eye’s Funny Old World column that Stockton was the home of this piddling piece of infrastructure, but last week we told how we had failed to find any evidence on a trail around the yards off the High Street.
There was nothing to go on.
But now a tip-off has taken us to the George Pub and Grill towards the south end of the High Street. It used to be called the Exchange Hotel and before that it was the Shoulder of Mutton Inn. By its side is a yard – called either Exchange Yard or Shoulder of Mutton Yard – and down there is a perfectly formed urine deflector. It is a great rounded hulk of bricks that you wouldn’t want to mess with or p*ss on.
The urine deflector in Exchange Yard, StocktonExchange Yard runs from the High Street out on to West Row. One of its West Row corners is guarded by what we are told is the remains of a First World War shell cut so that it protects the building from cart wheels. Can this be true?
A First World War shell guarding the corner of Exchange Yard and West Row: do other towns have this feature?READ MORE: MEET THE BORO CHAIRMAN WHO WAS GIVEN A KNIGHTHOOD DESPITE BEING BANNED FOR LIFE FROM FOOTBALL FOR TRYING TO THROW A MATCH TO GET HIMSELF ELECTED