Historic property taxation in Britain and Ireland

Historic property taxation and valuation in Britain and Ireland

Taxation on houses and land over the centuries has left us with a valuable body of records for building history. Sometimes the government of the day carried out a property valuation in order to assess taxes due under particular legislation, or for other official purposes, which mainly tells us the names of owners and occupiers, and sometimes offers more. However these records are not always readily available. Few are in print. Some survive only for certain areas. And some - such as the hearth tax - will only be useful if you already know the name of the householder at the relevant date, for they do not identify the property. So it is generally best to start with the more recent records that identify a specific property on an accompanying map. So , working backwards in time:

Victorian and later valuations

Valuation Office Field Books

What: The Valuation Office Maps and Field Books of 1910-15 sprang from The Finance (1909-1910) Act for the United Kingdom. In order to levy a property tax, a nation-wide survey was carried out of all workshops, houses, farms etc., which recorded details such as the owner, occupier, and value. Sometimes the date of erection and the number of rooms might be noted. The surveyors made maps based on the Ordnance Survey to identify each property, entering the information on it into Field Books.
Where: If working plans and books survive, they can be found in local record offices. The final plans and Field Books are held by the National Archives.
National Archives leaflet: Valuation Office Records: The Finance (1909-1910) Act.

Tithe Apportionment and Applotment Schedules

What: Tithe maps were drawn up for each parish in England and Wales following the Tithe Commutation Act of 1836. They number each individual property. The associated apportionment gives a brief description (such as 'farm house and barn') together with the names of the owner and occupier. The equivalent in Ireland are the Tithe Applotment Books, compiled as a survey of titheable land in each parish, townland and farm between 1823 and 1838. These are much less useful for building history as they are not linked to a map. Even the place names used for a townland or parish may differ from those used by the Ordnance Survey. Neither Applotment nor apportionment schedules cover urban areas.
Where: One copy of each English and Welsh tithe map and apportionment was lodged with the Crown; these can be found in the National Archives. A second copy went to the appropriate bishop and a third to the parish authorities. You are likely to find either the diocesan or parochial copy (or both) in the relevant county record office. The National Library of Wales holds a set of tithe maps and schedules for Wales. The original Tithe Applotment Books for the Irish counties now in Eire are held by the National Archives of Ireland, and can be read on microfilm in the National Library of Ireland. The books for Northern Ireland are in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) but there are microfilm copies in the National Archives of Ireland.
Online: see image finding aids for a list of tithe maps online by county.

Griffith’s Valuation

What: Ireland's Boundary Surveyor, Sir Richard Griffith, was not only charged with surveying Ireland for the Ordnance Survey, but with a valuation of property. He conveniently linked the two together. Griffith's Valuation [1848-1864] gives the names of occupiers of each holding, and a valuation of their lands and buildings, pinpointing their location by reference to the OS map.
Where: The valuation was published in several volumes, which are available in many local libraries. Data from the full set is available online together with the associated maps and town plans free from Ask About Ireland and at a fee through Irish Origins. The manuscript records of the survey, including the field books, house books and tenure books are in the National Archives of Ireland.

Scottish Valuation Rolls

What: From 1855 to 1989 the Lands Valuation (Scotland) Act was in force, requiring annual valuation rolls recording the owner, occupier, address and rateable value of every heritable property in Scotland, so that the authorities could set local rates.
Where: Copies of all rolls are held by the National Archives of Scotland. Those for 1865, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1920, 1925 and 1930 are online at Scotland's People. The report of the Land Ownership Commission 1872-3 is online at Scotland's Places. Valuation rolls for specific areas may also be held locally on microfilm. Those for Glasgow 1913-1914 are online at The Glasgow Story.

Land tax

What: Land tax was imposed in Scotland from 1667 and in England, Ireland and Wales from 1692.
Where: The assessment books, giving the names of persons paying the tax, remained with the local Land Tax Commissioners; some have been deposited in local record offices. Survival of the returns is patchy. The best-preserved period is 1780-1832, when duplicate returns may be found in the Quarter Session records. Summaries of the assessments are in the National Archives, but these give only the total amount payable per parish. The exception is the Land Tax assessment for 1798, which survives for each parish in England and Wales (National Archives IR.23).
Guide to records: Gibson, J., Medlycott, M. and Mills, D., Land and Window Tax Assessments, 2nd edn. (1998) lists those surviving by county with the catalogue reference and details of any published transcript.

Window tax

What: Window tax was introduced in England, Ireland and Wales in 1696 and in Scotland in 1748. It was actually a tax on houses, scaled according to the number of windows in the house. In 1696 the occupier of every inhabited dwelling was charged a flat rate of 2s per year. In addition those with 10-20 windows paid an 4s, and those with more than 20 windows 8s. Cottages, that is houses too poor to pay poor and church rates, were exempt. From 1709 the tax increased for large houses: those with 20 to 30 windows were to pay 10s, and a new upper band with over 30 windows paid 20s. There were increases in the tax in 1747, 1758, 1761, 1766, 1784 and 1825, before protests led to its abolition in 1851. The qualifying level also dropped in 1766 to 7 windows before rising slightly to 8 windows in 1825. The revision of the tax in 1747 aimed to counter those who had sought to evade the tax by building two or more windows within one frame. Each light was to be counted as a separate window if the partition between them was more than 12 inches wide.
Where: Window tax rolls for Scotland survive for the period 1748-1798 among the records of the Exchequer in the National Records of Scotland (reference E326/1) and are online at Scotland's Places. The very few returns that survive for England will be found in local record offices. Window tax avoidance can sometimes explain blocked windows such as those in the house in Cheapside shown here, but blind windows could be a design feature of Georgian houses, springing from the passion for symmetry.
Guide to records: Gibson, J., Medlycott, M. and Mills, D., Land and Window Tax Assessments, 2nd edn. (1998) lists those surviving by county with the catalogue reference and details of any published transcript.
Study: Ward, W.R., The Administration of the Window and Assessed Taxes, 1696-1798, English Historical Review, vol. 68 (1952), pp. 522-542.

Hearth tax

What: Hearth tax was introduced to England, Ireland and Wales in 1662. It decreed a 2s payment per year on every hearth in a house. This gives some idea of the size of the house. It was repealed in 1689, but the Scottish Parliament levied a one-off tax of 14 shillings on each hearth in Scotland in 1691. Hearth tax returns list number of hearths by parish and name of occupier. Names or specific locations of houses are not given, so these records are only helpful for the history of a building if the occupier is known already from another source.
Original records: Those for England and Wales are in the National Archives in class E179 (online catalogue); local record offices have copies of those for their area on microfilm. Those for Scotland are in the National Archives of Scotland. 1664 Hearth Money Rolls for Ireland are in the National Library of Ireland, with copies of those for Northern Ireland listed in The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland under T.307; an index is available on the Public Search Room shelves.
National Archives (UK) leaflet: The Hearth Tax 1662-1689.
Guide: Jeremy Gibson,The Hearth Tax Returns, other later Stuart Tax Lists, and the Association Oath Rolls (Federation of Family History Societies, 2nd edn, 1996) lists those surviving by county (British Isles) with the catalogue reference and details of any published transcript.
Published transcripts: A new series of published transcripts for England by the British Record Society and British Academy in conjunction with the relevant local societies started in 2000. Hearth Tax Online brings together all the information from this project, including wealth and poverty maps based on the hearth tax, downloadable name-lists and a bibliography of other published transcripts for England and Wales. Progenealogists has links to online transcripts for various places in Englans, Ireland and Wales.

Commonwealth surveys

Books of Survey and Distribution
- What: After the Parliamentary victory in the Civil War, Cromwell carried out mass dispossessions of Irish landowners who had backed the Royalist side. Their property was put up for sale, under the Act for the Settling of Ireland passed in 1652. The Books of Survey and Distribution record ownership in 1641 (the date of the Irish Rebellion) and after its redistribution.
- Where: The Books for Clare, Galway, Mayo and Roscommon have been published by the Irish Manuscripts Commission. For other counties, manuscript copies are available at the National Library of Ireland, and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland MIC532/1-13.
Civil Survey
- What: This was a record of Irish land ownership in 1640, compiled by Sir William Petty between 1655 and 1667, and fuller than the Books of Survey and Distribution. It includes details of wills and deeds relating to land title.
- Where: It has survived for twelve counties only: Cork, Derry, Donegal, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Limerick, Meath, Tipperary, Tyrone, Waterford and Wexford, all of which have been published in transcript by the Irish Manuscripts Commission.
Parliamentary Surveys
- What: The lands of bishops, deans and chapters were sequestrated (appropriated) by Parliament from 1643, but at this stage only their revenue was put to other uses. Sales of Episcopal lands began in 1646 and of dean and chapter lands in 1649. In 1649 trustees were appointed by Parliament to sell the estates previously belonging to Charles I, Queen Henrietta Maria and Prince Charles. The trustees commissioned local surveyors to carry out surveys of the Crown and Duchy of Cornwall lands prior to sale. (The sales were declared null and void after the Restoration of the Monarchy.) These surveys list tenants and their landholdings. Houses are usually just recorded as a messuage or a cottage, with no detail, but manor houses get more attention. The rooms may be listed, or condition noted. Mills are mentioned.
- National Archives (UK) leaflet: Crown, Church and Royalist Lands: 1642-1660.
- Study: S. J. Madge, The Domesday of Crown Lands: A Study of the Legislation, Surveys, and Sales of Royal Estates under the Commonwealth (1938).
- Location of original records: The original documents are in the National Archives E317, with duplicates in DL32 and LR2. There is an eleven volume typescript calendar in the National Archives by S J Madge, 'Parliamentary surveys of Crown lands during the Commonwealth' (1927).
- Published list: Brief entries for the surveys are given at the end of the county sections in the List of Rentals and Surveys, PRO Lists and Indexes, XXV.
- Published transcripts: The Parliamentary Survey of the Duchy of Cornwall, ed. N. J. G. Pounds, 2 vols., Devon and Cornwall Record Society, New series, vols. 25 and 27 (1982 and 1984); Parliamentary Surveys of the Bishopric of Durham, ed. D. A. Kirby, 2 vols., Surtees Society, vols. 183 and 185 (1971); Radnorshire: A Collection of Papers Relating to the History of the County. Parliamentary Surveys of the Manors of Radnorshire 1649, ed. Lloyd John (1900); The Parliamentary Surveys of Richmond, Wimbledon, and Nonsuch, in the county of Surrey, A.D. 1649 ed. W. H. Hart, Surrey Archaeological Collections vol. 5 (1871), pp. 75-156.

Domesday Book

What: The Domesday survey of 1086 is not the earliest property record in England, but it is the most comprehensive surviving from such an early date. There is no equivalent for Ireland, Scotland or Wales, nor indeed for any other European nation. It was intended as a survey of the land William I had conquered, detailing who held what, and how much it was worth for purposes of the tax (geld) the feudal lord paid to the crown, and what its value had been in the time of the last Anglo-Saxon king.
Coverage: It is not a complete survey of England. Much of northern England is missing. There is no survey of the biggest towns: London, Bristol and Winchester. On the other hand Domesday Book does include lands in Wales held by the Normans, listed under Cheshire, Shropshire and Gloucestershire. 142 Welsh places appear in Domesday.
Content: Wealth came largely from the land, so the prime focus was on recording estates, of which the basic unit was the manor. Since a mill added to the value of a manor, mills are the most consistently included type of building - some 6,000 of them are mentioned. Far fewer parish churches were included (around 300). Rural houses are not mentioned at all, but numbers are given of various types of householder, such as cottars. A manor with land held in demesne (by the lord) would probably have a demesne farm complex (with a manor house) from which that land was run, whether by a resident lord, or tenant, steward or bailiff. But adjoining manors in the same lordship could have been run jointly from a single headquarters. Domesday also includes 48 castles and 112 boroughs (walled towns.) Within boroughs, the number of inhabited houses may be given.
Caution: Interpretation of the Domesday Book is a specialist field, full of pitfalls for the unwary novice.
Location of the original: The Domesday Book is in two volumes, written in Latin, held by the National Archives, who provide an online guide to it. The original is too precious to be consulted by the general run of researchers, but facsimile copies of pages can be purchased online, together with an English translation from Alecto Historical Editions.
Modern editions: The Phillimore edition of county volumes (1975-92) includes the various related surveys which survive for some parts of the country, some of which give additional detail, and a wealth of scholarly commentary. A one-volume version of the Alecto Historical Editions translation, without commentary, was published by Penguin Classics in 2003.
Online search tools:
- Open Domesday is a free online copy of Domesday Book. It can be searched by place, and includes facsimile copies for each Domesday entry.
- The Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England (PASE) aims to provide information relating to all the recorded inhabitants of England from the late sixth to the late eleventh century. It includes a Domesday browser and mapping tool. It is possible to create maps and tables of the estates held by a particular lord.

Researching Historic Buildings in the British Isles