|
The Hearth Tax Returns give us an insight into the size of properties and the names of those who lived in them in the seventeenth century. The Hearth Tax was a tax levied annually in England and Wales from Michaelmas 1662 until 1689. The money was generated for King Charles II, for ‘the better support of his Crown and dignity’.
The tax was paid on each hearth and stove in every house, with exemptions for those in receipt of poor relief, those living in a house worth less than 20 shillings a year and not paying parish rates, schools, alms-houses and industrial hearths (but this did not include bakers' ovens and blacksmiths' forges, for which payment was due). Two shillings were paid for each hearth, which was collected in two instalments in the year, on Lady Day (25 March) and Michaelmas (29 September).
The originals of the Hearth Tax Returns are now kept at the Public Record Office. A microfilm copy is available at Worcestershire County Record Office.
|
|