Surviving Hearth Tax Records at Kew Record Office
The Hearth Tax consisted of a half-yearly payment of one shilling for each hearth in the occupation of each person whose house was worth more than 20/- a year, and who was a local ratepayer of church and poor rates. The assessments for 1662-66 and 1669-1674 were delivered to the Exchequer.
The most complete hearth tax records are those for 25 March 1664 - except in Longtree's case, where only minute fragments survive.
After looking at E 179 182/344, which is half yearly returns 1710 to 1719 but only contained totals, and some certificates of Exemption, and did not name any Tetbury people, I hit pay-dirt with the code E 179 247/13 and /14.
These consist of long strips of parchment, naming the taxpayers and listing the number of hearths each had. Number 14 has the date 1671 on the package.
So I set out transcribing Tetbury in both, and then checking the second against the first where names were difficult to decipher. The two lists have differences. Number 13 has 116 tax payers and names 101 with exemptions, and 9 legible in Charlton. Number 14 has 120 and 11 in Charlton, with 62 poor.
Finally, I decided to copy the whole Hundred, to get a feel for the area around Tetbury. Tetbury and Horsley appear to have the most complete set, other parishes have suffered more losses.
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| Longtree Hundred | E 178 247/14 date 1671 | E 178 247/13 date 1672
| | Avening | I have 108 hearths and 44 names.
They have 134 hearths.
I have 53 names having tax exemptions.
| 137 hearths in 55 houses.
24 legible out of 52 names,
54 hearths exempt
| | Charlton | In with Tetbury, 1671 has 11 houses, | 6 with Discharge Certificates
| | Cherington | 14 houses with 31 hearths, 48 exempt houses | 14 have 31 hearths, 27 are poor
| | Culkerton | 25 hearths in 8 houses in both records | In 1672 there are also 9 listed as exempt.
In all there are 25 entries for 22 individuals, and 17 houses are listed.
| | Horsley | 53 houses had 136 hearths, Exempt list has 55 houses, they had 132 hearths, few missing
| 80 names 202 hearths, total 230, missing a dozen homes with 28 hearths, have 105 houses with exemptions, they had 132 hearths, some missing
| | Minchin Hampton
| have 271 hearths in 111 houses, 349 hearths on the list, 77 lost, Exempt lists has 64 names survived
| They say 329 hearths, I found 287 hearths with 115 names Exempt list has 116 names - I lost one
| | Rodborough | For 1662 22 legible names on page, for 1671 should be 246 hearths, have 181 with 70 names |
21 names, 49 hearths, over 30 lost, they had 104 hearths. Have list of 20 exempt, out of 35 names for 37 hearths.
| | Rodmartin | 1671 - 5 names have 29 hearths |
| | Shipton Moyne | 97 hearths in 29 houses, and 7 exemption certificates | Records did not survive
| Tetbury A-G,
Tetbury H-P,
Tetbury R-Z, | 4 names in 1662, 1664 has 40 listed plus 37 not chargeable, 1671 has 129 to pay and 59 discharged by certificate | 1672 has 120 on Overseers Exemption list, 127 Discharged by Certificate, 114 taxable.
| | Weston Birt | 13 houses with 60 hearths |
| | Woodchester | 114 hearths in 32 houses, 35 houses exempt
| 114 hearths in 32 houses, 34 names with exemption certificates survived
| | Upton, Dufton and Elmtree | In the Tetbury records. 1671 Dufton had 3 with Discharge Certificates | In Tetbury list
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There are a total of 628 entries for Tetbury, Avening has 182, Cherington 89, Horsley 188, Minchinhampton 407, Rodborow 205, Shipton 54, Weston Birt 14, and Woodchester 134.
I looked at E 179 and found Gloucestershire was number 116. I chose item 551, which turned out to be fragments I could not make sense of, and 534, which gave a list of the Tax Collectors for each Parish, and the assessment. Dates escaped me.
Feeling rather 'in the dark', I then tried E 179 116/546, and found a year noted, 1676-7. This time Tetbury's tax collectors are Roger Townsend and Robert Marchant, with a target of 7-19-06, and Upton has Isaac Browning and Nicholas Jones collecting 5-15-00. These appear to be quarterly payments
| Avening |
| 534 | 19-11-06 | Samuel Wicketts, Samuel Else, William Hinton |
| 546 | 4-19-04 | Samuel Hillard, Thomas ffrancis |
| Charlton |
| 534 | 4-06-06 | Joseph Browning, Stephen Thomas |
| 546 | 1-04-04 | Roger Hillier |
| Cherington | | 534 | not on list |
| 546 | 2-01-01 | George Driver, Thomas Pope |
| Horsley |
| 534 | 34-04-06 | Thomas Webb, Thomas Mills, John Clark, Henry Mayo |
| 546 | 5-04-00 | Robert Silvester, William Wilkins |
| Minchin Hampton |
| 534 | 51-00-00 | Thomas Pinfold, Henry Eshart, Thomas Curtis |
| 546 | 4-00-00 | Thomas Holliday, Nathaniel Heirne? |
| Rodborough |
| 534 | 22-09-03 | Edward Stringer, Richard Butt, Phillip Wathey |
| 546 | 4-00-04 | Richard Barnor, John Turner, Stephen Jefferies |
| Rodmartin |
| 534 | 9-03-06 | Walter Winscrombe, John Raylor, Edward Marnard |
| 546 | 3-00-04 | William James junior, William Boxe |
| Shipton Moyne |
| 534 | 20-01-06 | John Beavon, Jeremy Ludlow, Joseph Hirt |
| 546 | 5-10-08 | John Hodyroyd, Christopher Clark |
| Tetbury |
| 534 | 44-09-06 | John Savage, John Undrill, Matthew Beale |
| 546 | 5-06-04 | Roger Townsend, Robert Merchant |
| Weston Birt |
| 534 | 15-05-06 | William Bennett, Alexander Drinkworth |
| 546 | 2-03-08 | William Hillier, Robert Corse |
| Woodchester |
| 534 | 13-04-00 | Nathaniel Bambridge, Thomas Webb, Gyles Nicholas |
| 546 | 3-08-03 | Thomas Welland, John Boxe |
| Upton with Dufton
and Elmtree |
| 534 | 19-05-00 | John Browning, John Wale, John Veysey |
| 546 | 3-06-06 | Isaac Browning, Nicholas Jones |
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The biggest surprise came when I looked at the locations of the bigger houses. Defining this as 7 or more hearths gave a list of around 16 surnames in the rest of the Hundred, and about 14 in Tetbury.
| 1664 | Tetbury | Castle 27 hearths |
| 1671 and 1672 | Tetbury | Christopher Harris 10 hearths |
| 1671 and 1672 | Tetbury | Mr Gastrell 9 hearths |
| 1662 and 1671 | Tetbury | William Savage 8 hearths |
| 1671 and 1672 | Tetbury | Henry Chapman 8 hearths |
| 1662 | Tetbury | Elizabeth Shephard 7 hearths |
| 1671 | Tetbury | Alouin Adams 7 hearths |
| 1671 | Tetbury | John Holland 7 hearths |
| 1671 | Tetbury | Mr Studman 7 hearths |
| 1671 | Tetbury | Richard Talboys 7 hearths |
| 1671 and 1672 | Tetbury | Widow Alexander 7 hearths |
| 1672 | Tetbury | John Holland 7 hearths |
| 1672 | Tetbury | Mr Elton 7 hearths |
| 1672 | Tetbury | Thomas Talboys 7 hearths |
| 1671 | Weston | Mrs Estcourt 23 hearths |
| 1671 and 1672 | Shipton | Thomas Estcourt 13 hearths |
| 1671 | Weston | Richard Holford 13 hearths |
| 1671 | Hampton | Samuel Shepherd 12 hearths |
| 1671 | Shipton | Thomas Hodges 12 hearths |
| 1671 and 1672 | Woodchester | Mrs Bridges 12 hearths |
| 1671 and 1672 | Hampton | Mr Amond or Wanter 11 hearths |
| 1671 and 1672 | Culkerton | Edward Barnard 10 hearths |
| 1671 and 1672 | Rodborow | John Walkly 10 hearths |
| 1672 | Rodmartin | John Kilmaster 10 hearths |
| 1671 | Hampton | Robert Bailey 7 hearths |
| 1671 and 1672 | Hampton | Mr Buck 7 hearths |
| 1672 | Rodborow Parish | Mr Estcourt 7 hearths |
| 1672 | Rodborow Parish | Widow Holiday 7 hearths |
| 1671 | Woodchester | William Ducie 7 hearths |
| 1671 and 1672 | Woodchester | Nathaniel Kinge 7 hearths |
| 1672 | Woodchester | William Morgan 7 hearths |
Conclusion
These lists are of individual houses and name the occupant.
Later lists for Tetbury show ownership of the houses, and are aiming at collecting funds for the use by the Overseers in caring for the poor, sick and orphaned.
In neither case are all the residents listed.
Equally, the Religious Census of 1735 appears to stop when Miles Gastrell had proved Tetbury was a bigger parish than that of his friend. (The details of this note escape me now.)
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Avening, Cherington,
Culkerton, Horsley, Minchin Hampton, Rodborough, Rodmartin,
Shipton Moyne, Tetbury A-G,
Tetbury H-P,
Tetbury R-Z, Weston Birt, and Woodchester
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