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⟩ of "carrot" and "marry" has normally remained the same as that of "cat" (but see the "mary–marry–merry" merger). However, inflected forms and derivatives of words ending in (historic) generally inherit the lengthened vowel, so words like "barring" and "starry" have as do "bar" and "star". Unlike lengthening before nonprevocalic , which applied universally in Standard English, lengthening, or broadening, before fricatives was inconsistent and sporadic. This seems to have first occurred in the dialects of Southern England between about 1500 and 1650. It penetrated into Standard English from these dialects around the mid-17th century. The primary environment which favored broadening