The window tax meant that half of the windows at Treflach Hall were blocked up when Woodhill became the principal house and Treflach Hall became a farmhouse. The implementation of the tax is where the phrase "daylight robbery" was coined.
Pictured is a stained glass window with the wagtail at its heart. It used to grace the vistas of Treflach Hall and tell a story but with a meaning only known by those who commissioned it.
In 1750 Carl Linnaeus, Swedish botanist, famous for his floral clock of 1748 formally described the pied wagtail scientifically for the first time. The poet John Clare wrote "Little Trotty Wagtail" and Thomas Hardy wrote "Wagtail and Baby" which describe the bird better than I can.
This common insectivore is poorly understood today as it bobs not wags its tail but its constant pumping vitality caught the eye of our predecessors who admired and reflected on its qualities.