Ravenstonedale DNA project
Ravenstonedale DNA project
Lay Subsidies in the 17th century
By this time, tax was only payable by the residents in each Manor who owned higher amounts of land, property or goods, so we only get to see details of a small number of tenants. The amount charged was in proportion to the value (it appears that the first column shows the value of their property and the second column the amount of tax - for all years shown below the majority of tenants liable for any tax paid at a rate of 13.3%, though in 1624/5 those with £10 worth of land paid at 20%) You will note that all taxes for Ravenstonedale tenants was assessed on their goods - and this was the case for most parishes in the East Ward of Westmorland with just a few exceptions in around a dozen parishes where 'Gents' and 'Esquires' were assessed on their lands. However, in the 1625 Subsidy Roll there are also a number of Recusants who were all taxed at 8d, not on their property (in each case this was assessed as nil). Only two parishes seemed to be affected - Wharton and Staynmoore. The individuals listed as recusants included both men and women - unlike all the other entries which were all male).
1610 Ravenstonedale: the tenants listed above all paid a tax of 5 shillings -
Rowland Taylor - gressum for goods value £3
Anthony Pynder - gressum for goods value £3
John Adamthwayte - gressum for goods value £3
George Fawcett - gressum for goods value £3
1624 Ravenstonedale:
Anthony Pinder on goods value £6 - tax 16s
Rowland Taylor on goods value £6 - tax 16s
George Fawcett on goods value £3 - tax 8s
Vincent Futhergill on goods value £3 - tax 8s
Philippe Greene on goods value £3 - tax 8s
1625 Ravenstonedale:
Rowland Taylor on goods value £6 - tax 16s
Gyles Cooke on goods value £6 - tax 16s
Vincent Fothergill on goods value £3 - tax 8s
Phillipp Greene on goods value £3 - tax 8s
Henrye Bowsefell on goods value £3 - tax 8s
William Fothergill on goods value £3 - tax 8s
These fascinating documents are held in the E179 collection at the National Archives. I hold copies of these three documents for the whole of East Ward, so I can transcribe the other parishes for you if you wish. If you are interested in locating Lay Subsidy records for other parishes, visit this page (where you can also read more about the Lay Subsidy Tax) http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/e179/default.asp