Views of Irish Thatch cottages

Cottages were usually built with a door to the front and back, and usually oriented to the north and south because it has been said that these two doors were necessary to prevent mother-in-laws and daugher-in-laws from using the same door. Many sons brought their new brides home to live beneath the thatch and their beloved mothers followed so and peace did not always reign. Irish thatched cottages boasted few windows because this helped limit heat loss in winter and kept the interior of the cottages cool in the summer months.
However, one of the main reasons for this limited number of windows was the infamous “window tax” imposed by the British government from 1799 to 1851.
This ludicrous tax was imposed on any homeowner whose house had more than six openings so this was the reason for the lack of them. This penalty came to be called the “typhus tax” because of the increased incidence of respiratory problems related to poor air quality in these thatched cottages.