Hearth Tax Online

[Geordie Mag]

Having found the Durham and North Yorkshire entries on Hearth Tax Online very useful, I was looking forward to the publication of the Northumberland records. For a long time the site has announced that these were "coming soon". However, now all mention of Northumberland has disappeared from the site and there is no suggestion that any new records will appear there.

Does anyone know anything about this?

Have they lost their funding?

[Tickettyboo]

There is an email address on the site, you could mail and ask them?

Boo

[Craclyn]

No entry on their blog since December 2013, so maybe things have ground to a halt.

[Geordie Mag]

Yes. I had noticed that, so it did make me wonder.
And...yes, I'll try contacting them by email, but sometimes you seem to get more info by taking advantage of Rootschatters' wide range of knowledge and contacts than by going through official channels.

[Geordie Mag]

I sent an email to the address on the Hearth Tax website first thing this morning. When (if) I receive a reply, I shall post it here.

Mag

[Geordie Mag]

I have had a very helpful reply from Dr John Price, who is in charge of the Hearth Tax project. The good news is that the project is secure and work on hearth tax records continuing. The bad news is that the Northumberland records are unlikely to appear until after 2017.

The British Record Society only allows the records to be put online 18 months after the hard copy is published. The project hoped to reduce this time limit and the signs had seemed good, hence the "coming soon" after Northumberland on their website. However, their hopes have been dashed, so they thought it better to to stop listing Northumberland on their website.

Mag

[Craclyn]

Did they say where and when the hard copy would be available?

[Tickettyboo]

I have had a very helpful reply from Dr John Price, who is in charge of the Hearth Tax project. The good news is that the project is secure and work on hearth tax records continuing. The bad news is that the Northumberland records are unlikely to appear until after 2017.

The British Record Society only allows the records to be put online 18 months after the hard copy is published. The project hoped to reduce this time limit and the signs had seemed good, hence the "coming soon" after Northumberland on their website. However, their hopes have been dashed, so they thought it better to to stop listing Northumberland on their website.

Mag

Really pleased that you have a reply. I am a firm believer in asking the 'source' about a problem. That way we get a definitive response ( though I do agree that we have a wealth of expertise and info in here)
Northumberland Archives seem to be very [over] protective of their records. My own, personal opinion, is that I understand the need to balance the requirements of funding against the needs of those who are interested in the records, but that they miss the opportunity that many other archives have taken in making their records available in an easy access ( though chargeable) format.
I look forward to the day when they digitise all the records and make them available at a market price cost on the web. That would benefit both the interested parties and the archives' income.

Boo

[Gen List Lass]

I've been looking at these Hearth Tax records on-line and cannot find an exact definition of the terms "paying" and "non solvants".

Gen in NBL England