.Sash windows in the form of very basic timber shutters have a history dating back as far as the thirteenth century.
It was not until around the sixteenth century that glazed sash windows came on to the scene, sliding side ways unlike today’s vertical sliding sash windows, that only actually started to appear mid seventeenth century in France.
French nobility escaping the guillotine in France arrived in England bringing with them the latest technology and designs of more advanced sash windows.
Somerset house in London was renovated with the input of the Queen Mother who had just arrived back from France with a very skilled French Sash Window joiner. He created and fitted the first recorded sash window in Britain.
The precise history and development of sash windows is a bit vague although the most likely story of the balanced, weighted sash window was a British invention.
As an updated re-make of the original vertical sliding window glazed with small squares of glass and very thick glazing bars due to the delicate and primitive glass available at the time would have made it a very heavy window to operate.
Doors of past had been counter balanced in a similar way of today’s sash windows, exactly who and when the system was applied to the sash window is unknown.
At no point in history has any one person laid claim to the invention of the sash window nor has there ever been a patent applied for.
The number of panes slowly reduced as glass manufacture began to produce higher quality stronger glazing, but it wasn’t until the Government of the day stopped demanding window Tax duty in 1845, when the price of the glass dropped, that the panes became larger, with only two panes per sash.
During a period of British history the Crown cleverly started to tax citizens based on how many glass windows they had in their home and thus it was considered a sign of wealth to have one large pane of glass per window.
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