Taxation Records
Hearth Tax
Hearth Tax records provide the nearest approximation we have to a Census in the 1660s-1680s.
Only two Hearth Tax returns survive to any extent for Shropshire, those for 1662 and 1672. The 1672 was published many years ago, but is not an entirely reliable transcription. Click on the following links for transcriptions of the Cleobury Mortimer Hearth Tax
| 1662 | 1672 |
What has survived for Shropshire, though, is a mass of Exemption Certificates and Lists (by parish). These date from 1662 to 1684. They are in the Public Record Office (E179), and I have listed them all, and I am well advanced in transcribing all the names from each document (searchable lists). Exemption from the Tax supposedly was granted to the poorest in each community, but it is surprising what a large percentage of people managed to clamber upon the Exemption 'bandwagon'. Click on the following links for transcriptions of Exemptions for 1670 and 1671
| 1670 | 1671 |