We have had shutters fitted to the front of the house and really like them. They don't have a thermal effect, are your curtains lined to help with heat retention and would you miss that? The shutters are not totally blackout either, would that matter? We find them easy to operate and clean, up to now just a regular dust, only had them fitted in January. The only downside is that if you clean your own outside windows from the inside it can be a bit fiddly getting your arm through the hinge gap. Probably the windows on your Victorian house are sash ones so completely different. (We first saw them in a house not far from ours and for the first time ever I coveted someone else's stuff!)