1669 Hearth Money Rolls for North Antrim

The Hearth Tax was introduced to Ireland in 1662. Arranged by county, parish and, usually, townland, the Hearth Money Rolls list the names of householders who were liable to pay tax at the rate of two shillings on every hearth or fireplace they had. Some people were exempt* from the tax and, of course, others managed to evade paying it. This means that the lists are not a complete record of householders in a townland.

The tax was collected over areas known as "Walks" which were based on towns. The "Dunluce Walk" in County Antrim was centred on the town of Dunluce which was just outside the castle. It covered the baronies of Cary, Dunluce and Kilconway in North Antrim as well as the baronies of Coleraine and North East Liberties in County Londonderry.

The best Hearth Money Rolls for the North Antrim area are dated 1669 and I have entered the information into two tables which covers the baronies of Cary, Dunluce Lower and Upper, and Kilconway. See a copy of one of the pages from the document (PRONI Ref. T/307) that I used. One of the tables sorted primarily by surname and the other by barony, parish and townland.

One of the problems with seventeenth-century sources, is that the surnames were written down by officials who, if they were not familiar with the spelling of a surname, spelt it phonetically. For example, the name Ewing could be written down as Youing. Someone reading this later might think that this was a misspelling of Young. As well as the problem of various spellings and misspellings of names, there are some names which are completely different from their modern-day equivalents. The same points can be made regarding the spelling of townland names plus the added problem of identifying modern equivalents.

If you have not already done so, I would advise you to read this about surnames and read this about the identification and spelling of townland names in this database.
 

1669 Hearth Money Rolls sorted by Surname, Barony, Parish and Townland	>>>
1669 Hearth Money Rolls sorted by Barony, Parish, Townland and Surname	>>>

*  Persons living on alms, or persons not able to work, or persons who had a house or lands worth less than eight pounds per annum and with property valued at less than four pounds.