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Tharston
Tithe Apportionment (1839)

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• Tithing was the centuries-old, mainly rural, system of a 10% levy or tax in produce on land, stock and industry for the upkeep of the local Church and its clergyman. The ‘payment in kind’ had been established in Anglo-Saxon England before the Norman Conquest. In some cases the right to receive the tithe was acquired by an organisation such as a monastery or a college, who paid a curate. It was applied to farms, gardens and small pastures within rural and urban areas, and the bulk produce (hay, grain, wood, etc.) were stored in huge tithe barns.
• The tithes themselves were controversial, particularly among nonconformists who resented supporting the established church and payment in kind was sometimes not convenient for either the farmer or the tithe owner.
• The “Tithe Commutation Act 1836” and an amending act in 1837 established a process whereby tithes could be converted to money payments. This required the drawing of an accurate map showing all the land in each parish.
• The resulting series of maps provided unprecedented coverage, detail and accuracy. The map and its accompanying schedule gave the names of all owners and occupiers of land in the parish. Each map showed at least the boundaries of woods, fields, roads and waterways and the location of buildings. The houses are sometimes shown in enough detail to show their shape.
• The tithe apportionment was the main record that accompanies the tithe map, giving how tithes were to be applied, showing the overall rentcharge for the district was apportioned to individual landowners on the basis of identifiable pieces of land, and how much tithe had to be paid for each plot of land. Every plot on the tithe map has a number on it and this matches the entry in the apportionment. It detailed the name of the landowner, the name of the occupier, the name of the field or piece of land, the type of cultivation, the acreage and its tithe valuation.
• Legislation in 1925, 1936 and 1951 reduced payments but it was not until the Finance Act 1977 that tithes were finally abolished.
• Further information:
  • Tithe maps of Norfolk, circa 1840
  • Who Do You Think You Are
  • GenGuide
  • Family Search
  • Your Family Genealogist
  • Tithe Maps

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