Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Freswick House

Freswick House is built upon one of the most important archaeological sites at the northern tip of Scotland, a former Viking settlement. Although it may look spooky and forbidding in this photo, it apparently now operates as a haven for artists to discover and develop their gifts. I'm afraid it would scare the gift right out of me.
My favorite story about Freswick House has to do with taxes. Apparently tax was assessed based on the number of windows. But the tax collector seemed to determine a different number of windows each year. Henrietta Munro has written an amusing article about the window taxes and Freswick House.
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7 comments:

  1. Postcard RoundupMarch 16, 2011 at 7:22 AM

    Yep, Ghost Hunters International definitely needs to investigate that place. Ghosts or not, I'd live there!

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  2. Archie TechtMarch 16, 2011 at 10:17 AM

    On my first glance at the image before reading the text I thought, "that is one odd window to wall ratio...", guess the window tax explains that. Still, I wonder why you wouldn't at least make BIG windows if you are going to be taxed on each of them- perhaps they limited size too, if it was over a certain dimension it counted as two? Glass at that point in building history was commonplace, not a luxury, so it seems an odd way to levy taxes.

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  3. Sheila @ A Postcard a DayMarch 17, 2011 at 5:00 AM

    Even though it isn't a mill, it brings to mind "dark satanic mills". It just doesn't seem a place to nurture artistic endeavour.

    To answer Archie Techt, the Window Tax was devised as a way to tax the wealthy without having to call it income tax. The idea was that the more wealthy you were, the larger your house, the more windows you'd have. This led to all the bricked up windows you see in houses which date from the 18th or 19th century.

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  4. LindaMarch 17, 2011 at 5:36 AM

    Maybe if the house was painted a pastel yellow or blue it wouldn't look so forbidding. For some reason, I thought of Spain when I first saw the picture.

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  5. Archie TechtMarch 17, 2011 at 9:12 PM

    Geeze Sheila, I thought the IRS made things difficult, it's even worse to have to fill in your windows! An early version of off-shore banks?...

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  6. Brian PaperSpongeMarch 19, 2011 at 6:46 PM

    Haunted or not, that postcard would work equally as well as a Halloween postcard. And using the number of windows for assessing taxes -- that's just crazy!

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  7. TrishiaApril 7, 2011 at 6:07 PM

    Don't show this card to Martha Stewart. She will definitely want to spruce it up:) What a foreboding looking place!

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