At the back of the house where I grew up there was a yard, which I think was concreted. To the left of the yard looking out of the back door there was a shed, creating a sort of roofless passageway between it and the house. The passageway led to a door to the lavatory, which was built into the house but only accessible from outside, and a water butt to collect rain from the roof. There was no main sewerage in the village until after we moved in 1953. So, for all the time we were there, the lavatory men came once a week to empty the buckets. They carried them on their heads down the garden paths and tipped them into a wagon waiting in the lane.