The cottages and the village life of rural England . houses we must have light therein, the source of health andhappiness, of all material things the first and best. It seemsstrange to recall the time when there was a tax on the light thatshines through our window-panes and cheers our hearts with itsbright rays. In old farmhouses we often notice windows that havebeen bricked up. This was done on account of the window-taximposed by a foolish Government in the seventh year of WilliamIII., which was not repealed until 1851, when the tax on inhabitedhouses was substituted for it. Houses were taxed
The cottages and the village life of rural England . houses we must have light therein, the source of health andhappiness, of all material things the first and best. It seemsstrange to recall the time when there was a tax on the light thatshines through our window-panes and cheers our hearts with itsbright rays. In old farmhouses we often notice windows that havebeen bricked up. This was done on account of the window-taximposed by a foolish Government in the seventh year of WilliamIII., which was not repealed until 1851, when the tax on inhabitedhouses was substituted for it. Houses were taxed according tothe number of windows they possessed, a rough-and-ready methodof determining their size and importance. Hence people shutout the light of day from their dwellings by sealing up as manywindows as they could spare. Mediaeval cottages had no glassin their windows. Only wealthy folk could afford this churches glass was used, wonderfully stained with representa-tions of saints and martyrs and of Him who was worshipped therein. 72. THE CHURCH GATE, WELFORD-ON-AVON, GLOUCESTER This second view of Welford shows some of its characteristiccottages, and the old lych-gate, or gate of the dead, where thebodies of the defunct villagers rest ere they are borne to their lastresting-place in Gods hallowed acre. The spring-blossom is onthe fruit-trees, and the cottagers have found some space by the road-side for their flowers, which impart colour to the scene, and theblooms of spring-time waft a joyous message across the road to theold lych-gate, telling of life and resurrection* COTTAGES OF RURAL ENGLAND From the passage from Piers Plowman already quoted wegather that the smoke from the hearth found its way out of thecottage through the window-holes, the chinks of the door beingan additional outlet. Glass was scarce in the Middle Ages, andwhen Richard II. wanted some for the repair of the windows atthe chapel in Stamford he ordered Nicholas Hippeswell to scourthe four cou
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectcottage, bookyear1912
