Hearth tax significant proportion of householders were not liable to pay at all. The hearth tax was much resented because it often entailed inspection of the interior of dwellings by the sub-collectors and petty constables, who had legal authority to enter every property to check on the number of hearths. Some people stopped up their chimneys so that the tax was not due on them, but where this was discovered by the assessors the tax was doubled. On 31 July 1684, a fire in Churchill, Oxfordshire, destroyed 20 houses and many other buildings, and killed four people. It was apparently caused by
Hearth tax for hearth tax research. It provides useful commentaries on hearth tax manuscripts in "The National Archives" (TNA), and arranges the hearth tax files in order according to the different systems of administration. Meekings' compilation of hearth tax accounts, which was published posthumously, is a useful resource for economic historians. Further information on hearth taxes, as well as other Stuart taxes and loyalty lists, is provided by Jeremy Gibson, which offers a comprehensive summary of hearth tax returns and assessments, whether in TNA, county record offices, or other libraries and archives. Each digest includes a brief commentary on the date, geographical