Londoners! Why do you sometimes put up a board inside your window?

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Gareth said this is like a shutter, but if it was a shutter wouldn't it go to the top of the window, and not leave that strange space above? Why not use curtains, or install proper shutters? It looks kind of sketchy from the outside. Is it that you want to appopriate squatting? Explain the aesthics behind this choice. Saw a lot of this in Hackney.

― Mary (Mary), Tuesday, 16 September 2003 23:03 (twenty-two years ago)

This is an odd one. I never encountered this until I first visited Hackney. I'm pretty sure you don't see it much in South London. This might be related to there being far fewer 18th-mid 19th century houses in South London, but you don't seem to see it as much on the ones from that period that there are.

― David (David), Tuesday, 16 September 2003 23:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Plus people do it in Hackney even with newer houses (eg those late 19th century terraces with bow windows).

― David (David), Tuesday, 16 September 2003 23:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Is it because of rubbish windows and proximity to lots of traffic noise?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 17 September 2003 09:58 (twenty-two years ago)

is it because of unwanted visitors declining to enter via the door?

ans: yes it is

(the little gap is for air and light)

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 17 September 2003 10:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm still interested in why this seems very particular to Hackney. As I said I never saw it in Clapham (curtains open so anyone could see in was the middle class style there). Is/was burglary so much worse in Hackney?

― David (David), Wednesday, 17 September 2003 10:06 (twenty-two years ago)

surely it is to dissuade ppl from looking in and thinking "this place is run down and not looked after and wd be nice to squat in" when actually all it needs is a tidy up and damp cloth along the surfaces and pick up that orange peel

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 17 September 2003 10:16 (twenty-two years ago)

A- ha, secret of Mark S wonderful flat revealed.

Do you still have the orange peel for sentimental reasons?

― Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 17 September 2003 10:39 (twenty-two years ago)

has it got a message that says "shouldn't you be writing your book?" inscribed into it?

― chris (chris), Wednesday, 17 September 2003 10:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Often they are shutters, and often they don't got to the top of the window. They tend to be an early to mid victorian thing which is when a lot of Hackney was built. They seem best preserved their as well. They are also quite common in pre-victorian city houses such as the ones to between Brick Lane and Spitalfields. We had them in the house I grew up in.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 17 September 2003 10:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Do they look nicer from the inside?

― Mary (Mary), Wednesday, 17 September 2003 11:55 (twenty-two years ago)

It wards off the DEVIL

― Ricardo (RickyT), Wednesday, 17 September 2003 12:05 (twenty-two years ago)

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