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 connecting bands of hearth numbers to social categories was pioneered by William George Hoskins, looking at the city of Exeter. His system has subsequently been adjusted by local historians and, as Tom Arkell noted, these adaptations depend upon a ‘particular locality’s structure, but this diversity, combined with too many variables, prevents effective comparison between most of these [local] studies’. During the 1980s Arkell’s discussion of the eight hearth tax records for Kineton hundred in Warwickshire enabled detailed comparisons to be made between the data for 1662-1666 and 1669-1674, and to test the extent of the coverage of each record. This