Contents
Context
The English hearth tax was a major source of government revenue levied twice yearly at Lady Day (March 25th) and Michaelmas (September 29th) from 1662 to 1689.
Certificates were prepared by the local clergy and churchwardens to list those who were exempted from paying the tax.
There were complaints that persons who should have paid the tax were included; as a result on December 20th 1671 (a year after the certificate on this page) a Privy Council Circular was issued to the justices of the peace:1
Wee easily believe that the abuse proceeds from the too much easiness and complyance of the Ministers and from the Partiall (as is to be feared) and indirect practices of the Churchwardens and Overseers who first frame those Certificates.
There is a gap in the records of the Courts of the Manor of Deopham of the Dean & Chapter of Canterbury from 1649 – 1673. The nearest record of a Court for this Manor was that of November 3rd 1674. Some names (such as Robert Myles) appear in the list of paupers below and in this Court record.
Certificate of Exemption
Wee the Minister of the Parish of Deopham in Norfolk & ye Churchwardens & overseers of ye poor
doe hereby Certifie unto his Majesties Justices of the Peace for the said county That we doe believe That the respective Houses wherein the persons hereunder named doe Inhabit are not of greater vallue then twenty shillings per annum upon the full Improved rent, And that neither the Person so inhabiting, nor any other using the same Messuages hath, useth, or Occupieth any Lands or Tenements of their own or others of the yearly vallue of Twenty shillings per annum, Nor hath any Lands, Tenements, Goods or Chattels of the vallue of Ten pounds in their own Possession, or in the Possession of any other in truft for them. And that the said houses have not above two Chimneys, Fire-hearthes and Stoves in them respectively.
Witness our hands this 21st day of December 1670:
William Cullyer, Vicar
Thomas Pane
Phillip Corry
John Bubong
| John James Robert Burgis Widow Beloe Widow Myles Widow Cock Widow Bennett Thomas Eagling Isaac Tan Willyam Cook Widow Cooper William Mothersole Thomas Bricklebury Robert Ryall George Mothersole Widow Bidwell Widow Creak Thomas Burrell Robert Hipperson Edward Pointon Thomas Stacy Hugh Hods | Robert Reynolds, senior Willyam Reynolds Elizabeth Reynolds, widow Willyam Peel Robert Myles Richard Thilthorp George Peel James Martin Francis Burman John Thilthorp Arthur Smith George Brunton Thomas Smith, senior Widow Downing James Porter Widow Laight Daniel Smith Robert Reynolds, junior Robert Green |
Source Document
© National Archives, Kew ref E 179/338/230
Footnotes
- Quoted by Peter Seaman writing in Norfolk Hearth Tax Exemption Certificates 1670 – 1674, published in 2001 by the Norfolk Record Society. ↩︎
Navigation
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 24/6/25 | Published |
Deopham History 