All right, so I can’t suppress the architect tendency.  Check this out, from Treehugger.com:

Tudor houses, built at the time of Henry VIII, are more energy
efficient than homes of today. According to a new study by British Gas,
tudor properties with their solid construction and stout oak beams,
leaked 10 cubic metres of warm air an hour vs. 15.1 for suburban
mock-Tudors built in 1960. The houses were constructed for the rich and
were the work of skilled artisans. They used wattle and daub, an early
form of plastering, which was inserted wet, but forms an almost
airtight barrier when dry. Even the more humble tudor cottages had
thick walls, small windows to keep in the heat, and hay and old wool
insulation…This verifies what some traditionalists, including the Prince of Wales,
have been saying: “Wind turbines, solar panels and other hi-tech green
devices might get the media attention, but the smartest way to save
energy may be to live in a Tudor house and insulate the attic and
repair the windows”.

Here’s a picture of a Tudor house:

The Tudor period was part of the ‘mini-ice-age’, occurring from late 1300s-1800.  Though of course if you look at the clothes, it’s obvious that it must have been colder.  Elizabeth I decked out in umpteen layers of satins and velvets, whereas Josephine Bonaparte wore a translucent nightie with a short coat five hundred years later.