Hearth Rolls

1669 Hearth Rolls for the Ecclesiastical Parishes of:

• Ballymoney (549 names)
• Ballyrashane (35)
• Ballywillin (41)
• Billy (160)
• Derrykeighan (143)
• Dunaghy (124)
• Dunluce (258)
• Finvoy (226)
• Kilraughts (82)
• Loughguile (217)
• Rasharkin (184)

Using the Hearth Rolls

The Hearth Tax Act of 1662 imposed a levy of two shillings a year on every hearth, fire place and stove in Ireland. A register, therefore, was compiled determining how much each household should pay. At the time of the 1666 Hearth Money Roll, various households were exempt from paying the tax and therefore not included in any register. By the 1669 Hearth Money Roll many of these exemptions had been amended, making it a more representative list of the householders in each region, although by no means complete. Importantly, the 1669 Hearth Money Roll also includes the townland in which the tax payer lived. Please refer to the following example and read the notes:

Notes:
1 This column refers to modern townland names and boundaries, which may vary from those of the seventeenth century.
2 This column lists the date an individual was recorded in the Hearth Roll.
3 The individual was only recorded in the 1669 Hearth Roll and not in 1666.
4 An individual recorded in the 1666 Hearth Roll, but not listed in the 1669 Hearth Roll.
5 The individuals listed were all taxed for a single hearth, except were specified, as here.
6 An individual recorded in both the 1666 Hearth Rolls and those taken in 1669.
7 Different spellings of some surnames were recorded in the each Hearth Roll. In this example, the name was spelt Allenn in 1669 and Allan in 1666.

For further details, please see “Heads & Hearths: The Hearth Money Rolls and Poll Tax Returns for County Antrim 1660-1669” Edited by S.T. Carleton published by Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

These records reproduced with kind permission of Deputy Keeper of Records, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.