The Great Fire of London in 1666 destroyed
13,200 homes. Afterwards an act of parliament was passed to
ensure new homes were made from fire resistant materials,
such as bricks and slate.
Windows changed during this time, sash windows that slid up
and down became popular, replacing the casement windows of
Tudor times. However there was a heavy tax on windows at this
time, as England needed money for war. People were not very
happy about the tax and it gave rise to the phrase ‘daylight
robbery’, meaning something which is a rip off. The
number of windows you had was a sign of your wealth - poor
people often only had one window per floor. Even today in
some old houses from this time you can see a window that has
been bricked up to avoid the tax; it was probably in a servant’s
room.
Poor people would have lived in timber or brick houses with
one or two rooms on each floor. Sometimes they would work
in a room upstairs or another family would live there. People
had hardly any furniture; a trunk or chest, some bedding,
a chair or stool and perhaps a small table. There was no running
water or proper drainage and to make matters worse for the
poor, builders often used shoddy materials and cut corners
when building homes, so they could be dangerous too.
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