In the Knight's day public washing houses near towns and villages were the only places where people could do their laundry. there was no running water and not everyone lived near a public fountain. The public washing place near Xlendi was covered over for the benefit of villagers using the facilities in bad weather. Fed by a spring the water runs through open channels into troughs of different sizes. The wash house was an intensely social space, the busiest place in the village where people passed the time together, gossiped, laughed and enjoyed each others company.