Hebden 1379 Poll Tax

Poll taxes were used to raise revenue - mainly destined for military purposes. The 1379 poll tax, which was a contributory cause of the Peasant's Revolt in 1381, was levied on the accession of King Richard II to raise funds to re-fill the Treasury coffers, which had been emptied on French battlefields, and to maintain Calais and other maritime towns of France, then in the possession of England. It was in the form of a poll-tax on all lay persons above the age of 16 the amount of which depended on occupation. The range was from 20 nobels (£6 13s 4d) for nobility down to a groat (4d). This was the equivalent of about £4,100 and £10 respectively in today's money. Married couples were taxed as one.

The Hebden returns are interesting in that only three people paid more than the minimum, two of whom seem to have been involved cloth making, one in the fulling mill owned by Fountains Abbey. The number of poll tax paying adults was 37. There is no indication of a manorial household.

The original entries are in the first two columns of the table, and the final two columns provide a translation of the original entry. In the original 'vx~' was an abbreviation for 'uxus', or wife, and the 'j' in the tax paid was the way of representing the last 'i' in a Roman numeral.