Past Talks
A Window into Bicester's Architectural History
Date: 19th March 2018
Speaker: Pat Snelson
Windows are amongst the most
important features an architectural
historian uses to date a building,
because their design changes with
fashion and with developments in glass
technology. But new windows can also
be used to quickly upgrade much older
buildings, as can be seen in many of
Bicester’s historical town centre houses,
so they are not always reliable as dating
clues.
The earliest windows were simply
holes in the gables of dwellings which
were designed to vent open-hearth
smoke and were called ‘wind eyes’.
While glass-making was known in
Roman times, most windows through
the medieval period had no glass – only
wooden mullions - and were closed
by internal wooden shutters. Glass
remained expensive and of variable
quality for many years and was not a
common sight in domestic houses until
the early 17th century, when the new
technique of Crowne glass became
widely adopted from the continent,
making glass much more affordable.
The earliest glazed window designs
were diamond or square-leaded
casements. There are a few examples in
Bicester (all probably dating to the early
19th century) but they are difficult to
spot – usually ‘hiding’ in alleyways or on
the side, rather than front, of buildings. A
good example is the window over a side
entrance of 51 Market Square (Jafflong
restaurant).
The invention of chimneys brought
about changes in window design in
previously open-hearthed buildings.
New floors were installed, making use of
roof space for accommodation, and new
‘eyebrow’ windows were inserted into
thatch, or dormers into slate roofs.
In the early 18th century, a revolution
in window design and fashion took
England by storm. Sash windows were
brought back from France by Charles
II’s exiled court and within 50 years
were being installed everywhere. They
provided better ventilation than old
leaded casements, were more draft
proof and could be installed relatively
easily into older buildings. There are
lots of examples of houses in the centre
of Bicester installing sashes where
casements had been - such as this
example in 34 Sheep Street.
A good example of a building which
would have had sashes when first built
is 47 Market Square. With a date stone
of 1698, this is an early example (for
Bicester) of the kind of symmetrical
classical façade which became the
hallmark of Georgian town houses.
In 1696, just as the sash revolution
was starting, a window tax was
introduced which caused the owners of
some very large houses to block their
windows to lower their tax due. Where
you see blocked or blind windows in
small dwellings, this is much more likely
to do with the owner not wanting an
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actual window, but trying to create a
symmetrical effect (as was the height
of Georgian fashion) or because some
internal design change required that
a previously open window should be
blocked.
The Regency period is known for
its flamboyance and a number of new
window designs were introduced to
take into account the latest stylistic
trends. Full height bay windows, made
popular by the development of seaside
resorts in this period, make their first re
appearance since medieval times and
several examples
can be found
in Bicester of
where full height
bay windows..
have been.....
added to much
older Georgian..
frontages such as
10 Sheep Street.
At this time,
Venetian windows
and Tripartite..
sashes were also very fashionable.
The sash remained popular
throughout the 19th and early 20th
centuries. Changes in plate glass
technology allowed larger panes to
be made, so Victorian sashes can be
identified by each sash containing, at the
most, two panes of glass. Larger glass
areas meant that the sash frame had to
be strengthened by the addition of struts
or ‘horns’ on the upper pane – a feature
which has become synonymous with
Georgian reproduction windows and
the latter can be spotted very quickly
because of their anachronous ‘horns’.
There are not
many Victorian...
villas in Bicester,
but the windows
of a few shops
in Sheep Street
demonstrate the.
true wealth and
variety of Victorian
architectural styles.