The above phrase was coined because of a window tax introduced in England in the reign of King William III in 1696.
It was a way of taxing the wealthy by the number of windows in their houses. The amount was 2 shillings per house & thereafter amount variable over 10 windows.
This arrangement was in place until 1825 or there abouts.
As you can see above many house bricked up their windows to avoid this form of taxation.
I have been a long walk this afternoon in the sunshine & this old farmhouse is in the next lane to ours.
Might be a bit lax commenting tonight I am going out !! Will catch up !!
Ooh very interesting. Now I wonder (assuming this is a listed building) what the conservation people would say about opening up the windows - do you return the house to its original form or preserve the very interesting changes from 1696 (which may be more rare in fact)?? Splendid sky BTW.
Well, THAT is something I didn't know, Pat! The first thing that I noticed when I saw your photo was the "bricked up windows" and then I read your comment. My ... I would certainly open them up now. Such interesting history. Here at Key West, Florida, houses are taxed on improvements to their homes .. so many owners only remodel the inside (beautifully) and let the outsides remain rather shabby. (to keep the taxes down!) That may have changed since I was last there, but just another interesting fact about taxes! Love your photo!!
Very interesting! I just relayed that cool tidbit of info to my kids. I'm wondering the same as Judith...can they open them up without ruining the historic significance?
All very interesting! The brickwork looks so solid! I have never associated that phrase with this fact - just presumed it was a bunch of robbers busting into a bank at midday!
Lovely shot and an interesting gem of information. I worked for a while in an old mansion that was the former home of the Earls of Derby, there were many of those bricked in windows there too. But, I had never linked the daylight robbery phrase with that.
