Pudding Lane Hearth Tax : August 1666 : (E 179/252/32 pt4 p6.)
This is a tax record for August 1666. These people lived in Pudding Lane in London. The numbers show the amount of hearths (fireplaces) in each person’s house.
People who owned a house had to pay a hearth tax to the king. They paid 1 shilling (5p) for each hearth.
This tax was collected twice a year. Some people might stop up their fireplaces for part of the year so they didn’t have to pay the tax twice.
Transcript
| Mary Whittacre widow | 2 |
| George Porter plasterer | 3 |
| Widdow Gander | 1 |
| Benjamin Burstow | 1 |
| Thomas Knight Glasier [glass maker] | 4 |
| Alice Spencer | 4 |
| Empty | 3 |
| John Bibie turner [person who works with a turning lathe, a tool for shaping and cutting wood, important in making barrels] | 3 |
| Thomas Farrinor baker 1 oven | 5 1 |
| William Ludford plasterer 1 stop up | 3 1 |
| Jones | 2 |
| Susanna Noest | 3 |
| Empty | 3 |
| Lanbe Yard | |
| William Burgis hook & eye maker | 3 |
| Joshua Sands plateworker | 2 |
| Empty | 3 |
| Nicolas Carter hook & eye maker | 5 |
| Widdow Grimes | 1 |
| John Wardley clothworker | 4 |
| William Walter smyth [blacksmith who worked with metal and made horseshoes] | 3 |
| John Wells porter | 2 |
| John Hasleby porter | 2 |
| Widdow Pawley | 2 |
| William Greene turner | 2 |
| 68 |
1. This source was written about two weeks before the fire. It lists some of the people who lived in Pudding Lane. This is where the fire began.
- Can you find the name of the king’s baker?
- How many fireplaces and ovens did he have?
- How much tax did the baker have to pay? (Clue: number of hearths and ovens x 1 shilling)
- How many different jobs can you find on the list? Name them.
- How many men had houses on the list?
- How many women had houses on the list?
- How many houses were empty?