COLLECTIONS GUIDE 9 TITHE Contacting Us What were tithes? Please contact us to book a Tithes were a local tax on agricultural produce. This tax was originally paid place before visiting our by farmers to support the local church and clergy. When Henry VIII searchrooms. abolished the monasteries in the 16th century, many Church tithe rights were sold into private hands. Owners of tithe rights on land which had WYAS Bradford previously belonged to the Church were known as ‘Lay Impropriators’. Margaret McMillan Tower Tithe charges were extinguished in 1936. Prince’s Way Bradford What is a tithe map? BD1 1NN Telephone +44 (0)113 535 0152 Disputes over the assessment and collection of tithes were resolved by the e.
[email protected] Tithe Commutation Act of 1836. This allowed tithes in kind (wheat, hay, wool, piglets, milk etc.) to be changed into a fixed money payment called a WYAS Calderdale ‘tithe rent charge’. Detailed maps were drawn up showing the boundaries Central Library & Archives of individual fields, woods, roads, streams and rivers, and the position of Square Road buildings. Most tithe maps were completed in the 1840s. Halifax HX1 1QG What is a tithe apportionment? Telephone +44 (0)113 535 0151 e.
[email protected] The details of rent charges payable for each property or field were written WYAS Kirklees up in schedules called ‘tithe apportionments’ . This part of the tithe award Central Library recorded who owned and occupied each plot, field names, the use to which Princess Alexandra Walk the land was being put at the time, plus a calculation of its value.