ANALYSIS OF HEARTH TAX ASSESSMENTS FOR ONGAR 

 HUNDRED, 1662, 1670, AND 1674 



For those of the years between 1662 and 1674 when the Hearth Tax was administered direct by 

 the Crown there exist for Essex five Exchequer copies (not all complete) and two county duplicates of 

 Assessments made under the Hearth Tax Act, 1662 (14 Chas. II, c. 10).' Of these Assessments those 

 portions of the Michaelmas 1662, Lady Day 1670, and Michaelmas 1674 Assessments relating to 

 Ongar hundred have been selected for analysis here, for their value in illustrating the distribution of 

 population and, to some extent, the varying levels of prosperity. 



Apart from an alphabetical rearrangement of the parishes (the High Ongar hamlets of Bobbingworth 

 and Marden End are shown beneath the parish) the principle of analysis follows closely the method of 

 compilation. The number of entries per hearth total, in columns for 1-16 hearths and another for 17 

 hearths and above, is shown against each parish or hamlet and two further columns supply the total 

 entries and total hearths. For the Michaelmas 1 662 roll one line per parish is adequate, footnotes being 

 provided to distinguish empty houses. For the later rolls separate lines are needed for the chargeables, 

 certified exempt, paupers, and empty houses. In the rolls the empty houses are generally intermingled 

 with the chargeables and have been transferred to the 'empty house' line in the appropriate hearth 

 column. New building has been distinguished by footnotes which also draw attention to other pecu- 

 liarities. 



The Michaelmas 1662 Assessment is taken from the county duplicate (E.R.O. Q/RTh i), the 

 Exchequer copy of which, preserved at the Public Record Office (E 179/246/8), being now defective. 

 The Assessment was enrolled at the Quarter Sessions at Chelmsford on 15 July and its adjournments 

 on 24 July and 26 August and subsequently returned into the Exchequer on a date now missing from 

 the Public Record Office copy. It served for the collection of the tax for the three half years Michael- 

 mas 1662 to Michaelmas 1663. 



This, the least comprehensive of names of the three Assessments here printed, gives details only of 

 all those persons legally liable for the tax together with their hearths, for no provision was made in the 

 Hearth Tax Act of 1662 for the enrolment of those legally exempt. Assessments for Michaelmas 

 1662 are, generally speaking, the least useful for a local study. They are, however, those most widely 

 preserved throughout the country and thus form a useful basis of county by county comparison for the 

 same year. 



The Michaelmas 1670 Assessment is taken from the county duplicate (E.R.O. Q/RTh 5), the 

 lists of which it is the enrolment having been received at the county Quarter Sessions on 2 May 1671. 

 The Exchequer copy is no longer extant. It served for the collection of the tax for the three half years 

 Michaelmas 1669 to Michaelmas 1670. It seems to be the case that Assessments made at this time, 

 where preserved, are the most comprehensive of the Assessments made during the second period 

 (Michaelmas 1669-Lady Day 1674) of Crown administration of the tax. This roll, compiled in 

 accordance with the Revising Act of 1663 (15 Chas. II, c. 13), shows first those liable for the tax, 

 followed by those whose property qualifications and exemption from church and poor rates excused 

 them from Hearth Tax payments on certification by the local justices. In some 16 parishes and 

 hamlets a third group is shown: the parish paupers who as recipients of alms were automatically 

 excluded. The inclusion of so many lists of paupers in this Assessment, which is paralleled in other 

 counties, is probably due to the fact that these 1670 Assessments were the first to be made by a new 

 administration. It is this roll above all which yields most information on the pattern of settlement and 

 prevailing prosperity levels in Ongar hundred in the 1 7th century. 



The Lady Day 1674 Assessment is taken from the Exchequer copy (E 179/246/22), returned into 

 Quarter Sessions at Chelmsford on 13 April 1675 and delivered into the Exchequer on 16 August 

 1675. In this Assessment fewer parishes are found returning paupers and their hearths. Instead of 

 1 6 parishes and hamlets, 3 parishes only enrol their paupers and 2 of them give no details of the paupers' 

 hearths. This decline in the enrolment of paupers is also paralleled in other counties; it is probably due . 

 to the need for reducing unnecessary listing and enrolling. In some parishes where paupers are omitted, 

 e.g. Chigwell, Kelvedon Hatch, and Theydon Garnon, there is a gain among the certified exempt, 

 suggestive of mobility in the prosperity scale. In other parishes the paupers vanish from the rolls and 



■ Exchequer copies not mentioned in this Intro- 

 duction are those for 1664 Mich, (serving for Michael- 

 mas 1664-Michaelmas 1665), incomplete, and 1673 

 Lady Day (serving for Lady Day 1672-Lady Day 

 1673), damaged. Most of the original lists from which 

 the latter were enrolled are preserved at the Essex 



Record Office. For some account of the Tax and its 

 administration see F.C.H. Camis. iv, 272. The com- 

 piler of the present tables is indebted to Mr. C. A. F. 

 Meekings for the correct tax dating of these Assess- 

 ments and for other advice. 



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