Today’s entry in the ‘favourite family history website’ list is actually now two websites and comes under the heading of H is for Hearth Tax. This tax was levied from 1662 to 1689, though incomplete lists of taxpayers only survive from 1662 to 1674. The records are useful to the family historian, one-namer and one-placer in that they enable us to identify our ancestors in place and time, indicate the size of the house and thus the degree of affluence or otherwise of our ancestors. Persons with houses worth less than £1 per annum were exempt, as were those in receipt of poor relief. Otherwise, 2/- (2 shillings) per hearth was payable. The parish constable made lists of householders with the number of hearths and the lists were submitted to the Justices at the Quarter Sessions. The tax was collected twice a year, at Michaelmas and Lady Day. A person with only one hearth was probably relatively poor. A yeoman or “gent” might have three or four and an esquire six or more.
The records of the Hearth Tax are held at The National Archives. A research guide Taxation before 1689 can be downloaded from their website. There are two fantastic websites about the hearth tax and I recommend looking at both. The first provides plenty of background information and regular blog posts about the tax and its times. The companion site ‘Hearth Tax Digital’, contains searchable transcripts of some of the returns. This is in its early stages but eventually all surviving returns will be included.
Many of the entries in this year’s advent calendar are based on my book Family Historian’s Enquire Within. I would be very grateful if anyone in the UK wanting to buy a copy would get in touch with me directly (there will be no charge for UK postage). I am trying to free up book storage space ready for novel two arriving!
The History Interpreter - Janet Few 