medieval-atlas/economic-development/324

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Poll tax 1694 The 1694 poll tax was imposed by act ofParliament on 29 May 1693 in order to raise money for the armed forces and Edinburgh Town Council decreed on 15 August 1694 that all householders were required to 'give up their names, qualities, degrees and value of their estates with a full and true list under their hand oftheir whole servants apprentices and residents within their families ... '. This information was required in order to determine the tax due from each household, but had the added virtue of providing a detailed account of Edin burgh's taxable households. Overall, the poll tax data, though incomplete, provide the only available information on household structure and distribution in late seventeenth-century Edinburgh. The main features ofnote are that large multi-generation households were not common, and household composition varied from the inner (1642) 2076 Persons 2673 2700 (2232) (888) Records incomplete to the outer areas of the town, notwithstanding the compact geographical nature of pre-New Town Edinburgh. Although the unknown, but probably large number of 'poor' were exempt and despite the eroded condition ofseveral lists, the poll tax provides a valuable survey ofboth overall population and individual household structure. The lists for 'greater' Edinburgh comprise the seven inner parishes -College Kirk, Greyfriars, Lady Yester, New Kirk, Old Kirk, Tolbooth, Tron -together with Canongate, North and South Leith and the sprawling West Kirk parish. In all, some 20,600 inhabitants are detailed, from 5,514 households. The Figure below shows population by parish. Some 13,612 (66%) ofthe inhabitants were crowded into the 7 inner parishes, emphasising the congested nature of old town life. 1849 Total population 20,600 2306 (824) 1898 2619 1593 New Kirk North Leith College Kirk (888)Tolbooth South Leith Old Kirk Tron Canongate Greyfriars o West Kirk LadyYester Population of Edinburgh from poll tax, by parish The bar-charts below indicates the number of households in each tions did not require children in some taxation categories to be parish and average household size. The average forthose households listed), although some households were mainly in the central parknown to be complete is included for the inner parishes (the regula-ishes, with fewer in the more rural outskirts. ~ 11 900 North Leith 800 700 600 Tolbooth College Kirk 500 5 400 4 Greyfriars Tron Sout Leith 300 3 200 2 Old Kirk 100 Canongate o o o West Kirk Lady Yester Number of households and average size households in Edinburgh 1694 324

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