Land Tax was introduced in 1692, in the reign of William III and Mary, as yet another means of raising revenue and wasn’t finally abolished until 1963. Administered at the local level, it was based on a tax quota for each parish, shared amongst the landowners.

The sums assessed are the actual amounts of tax charged, so by comparing the assessments you can get an idea of the size and value of the property. Between 1772 and 1909 the rate remained at 4s. in the £, but from 1798 properties valued at under 20s. per year were officially exempted from paying land tax.

Because the tax was levied locally, the surviving records are usually to be found in the local record office, normally in the Quarter Sessions records, but the survival rate of these tax lists varies greatly from year to year and place to place.

The annual Land Tax Assessments list the names of the Occupiers and the names of the Proprietors (owners of land) in each parish (or Township in the case of Malhamdale), many of the latter, for example Lord Ribblesdale, lived elsewhere. Occupiers may hold land in more than one parish or township, so did not always live where they are listed in the Land Tax Assessments. In Malhamdale farms often straddled several townships, as they do today.

After 1798 the tax could be redeemed or exonerated with a lump sum payment equivalent to 15 years’ annual tax. Exonerated properties and their owners were still listed because of the need to record voting rights (from 1780, payment of land tax on freehold property worth £2 or more a year qualified a man to vote). Duplicates of the land tax assessments were deposited annually with the clerk of the peace for electoral purposes. From 1832 onwards, Land Tax Assessments contain incomplete lists of owners and occupiers, as those redeeming the land tax with a lump sum no longer had to be included on the lists after the 1832 Reform Act changed the qualification for voting rights and seperate Electoral Registers of qualified electors were compiled.

The assessors and collectors were usually parish officers, such as the Overseers of the Poor, who would already be collecting the Poor Rates for the area.

West Riding of Yorkshire – Division of Staincliffe
Township of Malham in the said Division
Land Tax Assessment 1803

Names of Proprietors	Names of Occupiers	Land-tax exonerated			Land-tax not exonerated
		£	s	d	£	s	d
Airton Poor	John Preston						4
Brayshaw Richard	Thomas Cockshott					13	11
ditto	ditto					6	11
Brayshay William	Himself					1	10 ½
Hutchinson Thomas Esquire	Thomas Blackburn				1	4	3 ¾
Heaton John	Himself				1	11	6 ½
Hurtley Thomas	Himself						2
Hargraves Roger	Himself					1	2
Hammerton Thomas	Himself					1	7
Lund Mr. Henry	Himself					2	9
Lawson John	Himself				1	1	9
Parish	ditto					2	11 ¾
Petty Richard	Stephen Clark						5
Preston John	Himself					4
Procter John	Lawrence Preston					5	2 ¾
Procter Thomas	Himself						6
Shackleton John	Himself				1	13	10
Serjeantson Esquire	William Preston					16	¼
ditto	John Stott					2	7 ¾
Smith Christopher	Robert Sedgwick					18	2 ½
Sedgwick Nanny	ditto					6	11 ¾
Shackleton Robert	John Brayshay					7	6
Shackleton Nelly	Herself					1	½
School Kirkby	ditto					1
School Malham	Thomas Hurtley					5	2
Shackleton Ellen	Herself						3
Tennant John	Himself					4	5
Watkinson Mrs.	John Rawsthorn					1	9
Alcock William Esquire	Anthony Taylor	1	9	2
Atkinson Mr. John	Himself	2	16	10
	Himself	1	12	6 ¾
Atkinson Mr. William	Atkinson John	1	2	6
	William Silverwood		7
Atkinson Mr. William	Robert Preston		2
	Christopher Mount		2	7
Airton John	Himself			9
Brayshay Anthony	William Preston		11	10 ½
	John Lawson	1	4	8 ¾
Brayshaw Richard	Richard Oldfield		1	11
	Thomas Cockshott		2	5 ½
Brayshay John	Himself		6	11
Bateson Christopher	Himself		2	11 ¾
Brown John	Himself		1	9
Clapham William Esquire	George Hargraves	4	7	8 ½
Chamberlain Mr. Thomas	Thomas Parkinson	1	3	10
Hall Richard	James Taylor		10	3 ½
Hind John	Himself		3	2
Knowles Duke	John Brotherton		10	10 ½
Lund Mr. Henry	Himself	1	19	7
ditto for late Mr. John Lund’s	ditto		4	11
Lund Mr. John	John Brayshay		10	4 ½
Nelson Bycroft	William Altham		10	11 ½
Pullan William	Himself		1	3
Parkinson Mr. John	Himself		1	8 ¾
Paley Mr. Thomas	Himself		3	2
Procter John	Himself		1	9
Peart Mr.	& Himself		7	5
	Himself		5	2 ½
Lord Ribblesdale late Lund’s	John Brayshay	1	3	¾
	Himself		7
	John Armistead		3	4 ¾
	William Brayshay		4	3
	Joseph Brayshay	1	7	5
	William Brayshay	3	4	½
	Joseph Brayshaw		1	9
Rimington Mr Josias	Himself		9	11 ½
Roundill Esquire	Matthew Procter		3	11
	Christopher Mount		6	1
	Roger Preston		6	8 ½
Serjeantson Esquire	Samuel Preston		6	8 ½
	Robert Preston		4
	Robert Preston		10	4 ½
	John Taylor		2	6 ¾
Settle John	Himself		1	8
Tindal Mr Charles	Bernard Chester	1	4	5 ¼
Thompson Ellen	William Hargraves		1	8
Wetherall William	Himself		6	10 ¼
		£32	3s	6 ¾d	£11	1s	2 ¼d
		£11	1s	2 ¼d
	Total	£43	4s	9d
Assessors – George Hargraves & John Lawson Collectors – Bernard Chester & George Hargraves

The addition on this return is actually incorrect and the figures should be :	Exonerated	£32 4s 1 ¼d
	Unexonerated	£ 10 18s 3d
	Total	£43 2s 4 ¼d

Transcribed by Diana Mallinson

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Finding Further Land Tax Assessments for Malhamdale 1781 – 1832

You can find the Land Tax Duplicate asssessments in the West Riding Quarter Sessions records held at the West Yorkshire Archives Service in Wakefield, listed in class QE13.

Assessments for Malham Moor; Malham (East & West); Kirkby Malham(dale); Hanlith; Scosthrop; and Airton, all situated in the Wapentake of Staincliffe West and Ewcross and are listed under class QE13/13 and the following years are available:

Malham Moor	QE13/13/34	1781, 1783-1786, 1788-1815, 1817-1832
Malham (East & West)	QE13/13/32	1781-1786, 1788-1815, 1817-1832
Kirkby Malham(dale)	QE13/13/27	1781-1786, 1788-1815, 1817-1832
Hanlith	QE13/13/20	1781-1786, 1788-1815, 1817-1832
Scosthrop	QE13/13/47	1781-1786, 1788-1815, 1817-1832
Airton	QE13/13/1	1781-1786, 1788-1800, 1802-1812, 1814-1815, 1817-1832
Otterburn	QE13/13/42	1781-1786, 1788-1812, 1814-1815, 1817-1832

Assessments for the townships of Bordley; Calton; Eshton; Flasby with Winterburn; and Coniston Cold listed in the Wapentake of Staincliffe, East under class QE13/12. Returns for the period 1760, 1781- 1832 are available, with the exception of the years 1787, 1807, 1816 which have not survived for the east division of Staincliffe.