Hearth less than 20 shillings a year and those who paid neither church nor poor rates. Also exempt were charitable institutions such as schools and almshouses, and industrial hearths with the exception of smiths' forges and bakers' ovens. The returns were lodged with the Clerk of the Peace between 1662 and 1688. A revision of the Act in 1664 made the tax payable by all who had more than two chimneys. The tax was abolished by William III in 1689 and the last collection was for Lady Day of that year. It was abolished in Scotland in 1690. Hearth tax records
Pronunciation of English ⟨a⟩ hardly ever subject to broadening. Learned words, neologisms (such as "gas", first found in the late 17th century), and Latinate or Greek borrowings were rarely broadened. A particularly interesting case is that of the word "father". In late Middle English this was generally pronounced , thus rhyming with "gather" . Broadening of "father" is notable both in two respects: The Oxford English Dictionary describes the broadening of "father" as "anomalous". Dobson, however, sees broadening in "father" as due to the influence of the adjacent and combined. "Rather" and "lather" appear to have been subject to broadening later, and in fewer