Rylstone Project

Lay Subsidies for Rylstone in the the Wapentake of Staincliffe in the                                              Sixteenth Century

 

 

Lay Subsidies were individually assessed taxes granted by Parliament. The medieval lay subsidy was originally taxed on individuals by assessment, but after 1334 became a gross sum charged collectively on each township. Tudor and Stuart lay subsidies developed in 1512-14.

 

The responsibility for carrying out the assessment and collection of the grant of subsidy was in the hands of commissioners, who were normally JPs, or individuals of similar standing. They were responsible for the assessment of taxpayers, arranging for the collection and dispatch of the taxes they raised, but did not themselves assess taxpayers.

 

The commissioners called before them two men from each township, and charged them to make on oath an assessment of those in their township liable to contribute to the subsidy.

 

In the list for the Lay Subsidies, the first column shows the assessment, and the second and third columns shows how much there was to be paid.