Ⓒ TNA
Hearth Tax
Hearth taxes were levied in medieval and early modern Europe, notably in France and the Low Countries, but were not levied in the British Isles until the late seventeenth century. Following the Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in 1660, the hearth tax was levied in England and Wales from 1662 until 1689 (it continued to be collected in Ireland until the early nineteenth century). It was charged according to the number of fireplaces in dwellings, and it was collected twice each year at one shilling per hearth. It was also levied in Scotland in 1691 with collection lasting until 1695.
Hearth Tax Digital enables curious members of the general public, students, scholars, family historians, and genealogists to explore the information in the records on individuals' names, communities, whether heads of households were men or women, their titles (e.g. Mr, Mrs, widow), and for some their roles in society, including medical (e.g. doctor, midwife, apothecary) and military professionals (e.g. captain, lieutenant). As such this digital 'assertive edition' (Vogeler 2019) provides insights into the cultural, social and economic history of Restoratian England, the history of early modern taxation, and uses of Latin, English, Arabic and Roman numerals in local government. A further advantage of digital access is that as the documents deteriorate, the original texts remain available for research purposes (Roehampton 2014).
The documents are published unabridged and set out according to the layout in the original manuscripts. The editors have dated the documents and they are available without having to search through catalogues. The records are also available to browse and search without early modern palaeography skills, and Latin text is transcribed, with indications of abbreviations and translation into English. The Hearth Tax Digital team has used Logeion, (University of Chicago) for its translations, and professional palaeographers and records consultants to find, date, and check the transcripts undertaken by the volunteer transcribers of the British Academy Hearth Tax Research Project. Thus, Hearth Tax Digital enables remote access not only to The National Archives, (Kew, London), but also to local archives from Bristol to Kendal (Cumbria), providing perspectives from national to household levels upon English society and its relationship with the state during the Restoration period. New records will be added to Hearth Tax Digital on a regular basis until 2026.
To access the data, browse the list of records or search single entries, and collect the entries of your interest into the data basket.
Project Directors: Dr Andrew Wareham and Professor Georg Vogeler
Project Team: Theresa Dellinger, Dr Simon Dixon, Duncan Harrington, Alasdair Hawkyard, Simon Neal, Sue Parkinson, and Jakob Sonnberger
Project Transcribers: Andrew Brent, Gwyn de Jong, Mary Fraser, Anne George, Paul Hodges, Averil Harper-Smith, Tom Jackson, Chris Potter, John Read, Peter Seaman, Jane Walker, and Laurie Woods
Hints and improvements to:
A.Wareham@roehampton.ac.uk