A Wee Slice Of History: Star Yard's Victorian Urinal

Tucked away down a little side alley in Holborn you will find a rather unusual piece of old street furniture: a brilliant leftover from Victorian London.

The Victorian pissoir

Turn off Carey Street or Chichester Rents into Star Yard and you’ll find a Victorian cast-iron urinal. Its official name is, the much fancier sounding, ‘pissoir’.

A pissoir was the French name given to a lightweight structure used as a public urinal on the streets, first introduced in Paris in the 1830s, before spreading to elsewhere in Europe.

The first in the UK were installed in Glasgow in 1850 before being set up in other cities. They would have once been found all over London; ideal for men caught short whilst walking about town.

The Grade II listed structure was manufactured in McDowell Steven and Co Ironworks in Glasgow in 1851. It is, dare I say it, rather lovely. In true Victorian style it is functional but also has been designed with a bit of flare.

It has a series of patterns on the outside including the royal coat of arms, which is apparently unique to this particular pissoir.

Geoffrey Fletcher wrote about it in his brilliant 1962 work ‘The London Nobody Knows’. There was also a documentary of the same name from 1969.

geoffrey fletcher star yard urinal — _{Geoffrey Fletcher’s drawing of the urinal in the 1960s}

Today the pissoir is owned by the large house opposite on a lease from Westminster council and used as storage. The house was on sale for £4.4 million in 2014. Click here for some photos of the house and of the inside the pissoir.

Urine Deflectors

If you were on the hunt for two wee related historical finds, then urine for a treat. Apologies for the toilet humour.

On Clifford’s Inn Passage, just off Fleet Street, you can find these urine deflectors.

The Victorians became increasingly wound up about public urination as the 19th century progressed and urine deflectors were often installed on the outside of buildings or on stairwells. Anyone hoping to relieve themselves there would have their urine deflected back onto their shoes! Very clever.

You can find another example of a deflector on Lothbury behind the Bank of England.

Thank you for reading, more of London’s quirky history below…