Hearth tax and became widespread in the 14th century when the royal finances were unable to bear the rising costs of war and state agents. In particular, "fouages" were levied in 1342 and 1349. The "hearth-penny" was an Anglo-Saxon term for "Peter's pence". In England, hearth tax, also known as hearth money, chimney tax, or chimney money, was a tax imposed by Parliament in 1662, to support the Royal Household of King Charles II. Following the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Parliament calculated that the Royal Household needed an annual income of £1,200,000. The hearth tax was a supplemental tax to
Hearth tax under-recorded in the returns and assessments; while on other occasions the certificates enable us to provide names for aggregate statistics of the not liable recorded in the returns and assessments. This research facilitates further understanding of those people who were beneath the tax threshold and the terminology which was used to describe poorer property. The is based at the University of Roehampton, London. The Centre was established in 1995 (then known as the Centre for Hearth Tax Studies) under the direction of Professor Margaret Spufford. The current Director is Dr Andrew Wareham and the Project Manager is Dr John Price.