Many primary sources including parish registers, churchwardens’ accounts have been transcribed by various national and local historical societies such as The Dugdale Scociety for Warwickshire and The Worcestershire Historical Society.
Some societies focus not on a geographical area but on a particular area of research such as the Hakluyt Society which specialises in primary records of historic voyages, travels and other geographical material and The Huguenot Society of Great Britain and Ireland and Church of England Record Society.
A list of many of the societies has been compiled by the Royal Historical Society.
Did you know that once upon a time in England, people were taxed on the number of hearths (fireplaces) they had? The Hearth Tax, or Chimney Tax was levied between 1662 and 1689 at rate of two shilling per fire place. Inspectors had the right to inspect every house to count the number of fireplaces so the tax was not popular.
There was no regular national population census at this time so the Hearth Tax returns are a valuable source of information about the population as the Hearth Tax returns, unlike other tax surveys from the period, recorded the names of those who did not have to pay the tax as well as those who did.
Several sets of Hearth Tax returns have been published by record societies, for example:
The Warwickshire Hearth Tax Returns; Michaelmas 1670, with Coventry Lady Day 1666. The Dugdale Society Vol. XLIII:
The Essex hearth tax returns : Michaelmas 1670. The British Record Society