|
Charles II introduced a new Tax after returning to the throne for the second
time in 1662. Parliament allowed the new tax to cover his (extravagance). The
Heath Tax was designed to make the well off pay, without causing unnecessary
burden to those who were less off. The principle being that if you lived in a
house which was of sound construction i.e. four walls & a roof with a chimney
stack affixed to the roof & hearth being a substantial one, you were
liable to the Tax. The assessments were carried out by the parish constables who
obviously had local knowledge and as such knew peoples ability to pay.
The Tax was abolished in 1689 but was later replaced with a more lavish Tax , being the Windows tax. Based on the fact that Glass was a
luxury at this time.
Not so far removed from this day & age when the government imposes new taxes
on such luxury's as mobile phones and removes it once its common place.
In 1836 is was legislated that all land would be once and for
all be mapped with the legal ownership being attributed to the map for the
purpose of gaining Tithe awards (tax) assessments of land owners based on
the rentable value of the land.
The Tithes (tax) were formerly based on possible grain /grazing capacity of the
land and as such payment was made in grain or live stock going back to Saxon
times, but in 1836 this was change to a land tax based on the rentable
value of the land. If you rented land off a landlord the landlord would
have to pay a percentage of the value of the land to the local parish church
normally one third and the local crown representative normally being a Duke or
Lord.
The parishes share (award) was in-effect council tax/rates and went
towards the maintenance of the parish infrastructure, being the Church building
& parish owned buildings, local road maintenance, drainage and the
maintenance of the poor. Much like today. The crowns part was used for
civil and national defence.
Land Ownership
Land transfers, the tenants could only pass to a son and inheritance would be
established by court enquiry. Stewards would record proceedings and
supervise the conveyance of the land. Originally
tenants occupied their land in return for work done for the manor but,
eventually, it became easier to pay a rent instead.
Small rent does not necessarily mean a small landholding. An
outright owner of land (a freeholder) might rent additional land from the manor
and so pay a rent smaller than his actual landholding. To ensure
that the payments continued to be made on sale of the freeholder's land, the
steward drew up a document, retaining one copy and giving another to the tenant.
This became known as copy-hold and was such an efficient system it stayed in
force until the Land Registration Act 1925.
Therefore, if you find a copyhold record, and bearing in mind that it was passed
father to son, you should be able to trace back a line.
Close rolls dealt with transfers of land by sale rather than transfers of
tenanted land. They began around 1200 and are literally rolls of
parchment, one deed sewn onto the next and in use up into the 1800's.
|
|