Think tax avoidance is a modern concept? This house in Ambleside was built in the 17th century over a stream to avoid land tax. The tax was typically levied on buildings that occupied ‘land’, so by building the house over a stream, they avoided the requirement to pay it.

Unsurprisingly, no documentation exists regarding the actual intention of the Braithwaite family when they built it 400 years ago, but it seems likely it was built in this manner to avoid land tax. It would of course have been far cheaper to build on land in a normal manner. If you were going to do something for tax avoidance purposes, you wouldn’t document it as such anyway.