MARSH FAMILIES OF KENT

ABOUT THE HEARTH TAX

In general, the number of hearths in a house would be an indication of the relative wealth of householders. One might expect that poorer people, those who were not charged, would have only one hearth, but because of the various exemptions, that does not always follow. A large house with many hearths that had not been completed or occupied would not be charged .

The foregoing is a very much simplified picture of the tax. Inevitably people took steps to try to avoid payment. To escape the tax, some landlords would divide a house into tenements and then let the tenements to poor people. As could be expected changes were made to the adminstration of the tax to circumvent the evaders and to improve the collecting procedures. Does this sound similar to what is happening in the 21st century?

Some areas were not covered with the 1664 Kent return. However the Kent publication does include information from other returns. Areas not included in the publication are
Small portion of Chatham and Gillingham.
Worth Hundred..
Ham Hundred.
Newchursh Hundred lower half.
Aloesbridge Hundred, lower half.
St Martin & Longport Hundred, lower Half.
New Romney and Old Romney.
Lydd.
Hythe.
Folkestone.
Bekesbourne.
Fordwich.
Sarre.
Birchington.
Margate (St John Thanet).
Ramsgate (St Lawrence Thanet).
Broadstairs (St Peter Thanet).
Woodchurch, Ville of Wood, Acol.
Sandwich.
Stonar.
Deal and Walmer.
Ringwould.
Dover.

Various returns for the above omissions can be consulted at the Public Records Office (PRO).

The British Record Society has a project to produce publications on the Hearth Tax for all counties which have not done so themselves. The book for the 1664 Kent Hearth Tax was completed in 2000, but was not distributed until late 2001. For a better understanding of the tax, the study of one or more of these publications is recommended.