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• The Hearth Tax Project

National taxation records are of particular value to historians, providing rare snapshots of both the extent and distribution of wealth and population across an entire country. The Hearth Tax of the 1660s and 1670s provides one such detailed picture of the socio-economic and demographic structure of England and Wales. The Hearth Tax Project aims to publish the fullest surviving return for each county (where one has not already been published), together with a scholarly introduction analysing the economic structure, social profile and population density of each county. In addition, the information on hearths sheds invaluable light on vernacular architecture and on developments in building during the later seventeenth century.

The Roehampton University Centre for Hearth Tax Studies was established in 1995 under the direction of Professor Margaret Spufford FBA, and in 2004 the Hearth Tax Project became a British Academy Project. Five volumes have been published in the series, complemented by one local history study. For more information about the history of the Project, please click here. On these pages you will find a selection of materials (historical introductions, maps etc.) relating to the work of the Project.