stream located a couple of metres underneath the squat hole. This stream then ran into a larger sewer system and into the river Tiber and then out into the sea in one of the earliest examples of plumbing on a large scale. Going to the John -- Approaching the Contemporary In 1596 the courtier Sir John Harrington invented the first flush toilet which came complete with a flush valve that realised fresh water into the basin and a wash down system that carried waste away. Whilst lauded as a great invention at the time it wasn't considered to have practical applications due to a widespread lack of running water with which to use the devise. Harrington has survived in contemporary expressions with the use of the American idiom, 'going to the John'. Modern Plumbing -- The Bog Standard As a result of Harrington's invention and the widespread construction of sewer systems, combined with water on tap, bathroom plumbing evolved to how we now know it around the 1960s. Up until this point many UK households didn't actually have an indoor toilet and toilet-goers were relegated to using an outhouse in the backyard. A Plumb Job Contemporary plumbing now incorporates all manner of paraphernalia such as bidets, designer bathroom suites, rainwater guttering and fast-action boilers that feed hot water into your home in a matter of seconds. If you are considering reworking any aspect of your household plumbing then companies such as The Plumb Store offer a consolidation of all modern