Hebden Tudor Taxes

The loan book lists assessments on lands and goods. It lists the lord and the steward of each manor and some measure of each man's wealth. It was initiated by Cardinal Wolsey in the reign of Henry VIII. A Commission, issued in March 1522, demanded that every township should supply a muster of all adult males with a notice of each man’s lord or master, together with a detailed assessment of all property and individual wealth. They were used as the basis of loan tax assessments. These were a means of raising revenue whereby the subject "loaned" money to the Treasury (such "loans" were never repaid).

In the case of the 1543 Lay Subsidy Return it is evident that subjects were allocated to a band according to the vaue of their property. The tax liability is also listed.

These Tudor documents are interesting in that they give us the first glimpses of the family names which we see in the township for the next five hundred years. In 1589, the manor was sold to the freeholders via three Trust Lords, Robert Bland, Robert Eshe and William Toppam - the last two family names appearing in the 1522 Loans Tax assessment.

These transcription are based on copies of ones made by Heather Beaumont for the Hebden Local History Group in 1996.

Hebden 1522 Loan Book Assessment

Villa de Hebden

Sir Richard Tempeste Cheiffe lord their, Richard Banaster Stuerd there.

Hebden 1543 Lay Subsidy Assessment

Villat de Hebden