Hearth tax records 1691-1695

Hearth tax rolls list the people who were liable for tax on hearths (including kilns) in Scotland in the 1690s. They provide clues about the size of each building, place, estate or parish in the late 17th century. Heads of households of each building were liable for a tax of 14 shillings, payable at Candlemas 1691, and only hospitals and the poor were exempt. There were huge difficulties in collecting the tax, particularly in the Highlands, and attempts to collect the tax went on in some parts of Scotland went on until 1695.

The surviving hearth tax rolls (National Records of Scotland reference E69) are generally arranged by county and then parish or by landed estate. The rolls for the following counties contain lists of householders (some arranged by estate or place): Angus, Ayr, Argyll (but with some areas missing), Bute, Berwick, Clackmannan, Dumbarton, East Lothian, Fife, Kincardine, Lanark, Midlothian, Perth, Renfrew, Roxburgh, Stirling, Sutherland, West Lothian and Wigtown.

The rolls for the counties of Aberdeen, Banff, Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, Moray, Nairn, Peebles and Selkirk give only the total number of hearths surveyed and money collected in each parish or estate. The roll for Inverness-shire consists mainly of a summary of a small number of parishes without listing inhabitants but includes a list of burgesses or inhabitants of the town of Inverness and a list of poor in the parishes surveyed.

In this series of hearth tax rolls there are none for Orkney, Shetland, Caithness, Ross and Cromarty. For information on hearth tax rolls for Dumfriesshire, Fife, Edinburgh, Shetland and Ross-shire in private records in the NRS see the guide on tax records at www.nas.gov.uk/guides/taxation.asp.

Please note that hearth tax records are difficult to read, if you are not familiar with 17th century handwriting. For guidance on 17th century handwriting visit www.scottishhandwriting.com.