The Hearth Tax was one of the taxes introduced in the reign of Charles II to cope with the debts inherited from the period of the Commonwealth. The Hearth Tax demand was 2/- per hearth, per household, payable in two equal portions at Lady Day and Michaelmas. Occupiers, not owners, were liable for this tax. There were exemptions for: ▪ poverty, or where an estate was too small to pay the usual taxes ▪ houses not worth more than 20/- per annum ▪ blowing houses ▪ stamp furnaces ▪ kilns ▪ hospitals & alms houses Langham had 114 households in 1665  (In 1676 108 families were recorded) ▪ there were 44 exemptions from the Hearth Tax ▪ most households had 1 hearth ▪ 25 households had 2 hearths ▪ 8 households had 3 hearths ▪ Thomas Baxter had 4 hearths ▪ Edward Bristoe had 5 hearths The Rutland Hearth Tax 1665 published by Rutland Record Society details the names of the 114 householders. Langham Village History Group