There is a permanent page for this post here . Update: I recently attempted an analysis of what the cow hides actually list, which you can view at your own risk on the permanent page.
The 1550 Lay Subsidy was one of several mid‑Tudor tax assessments imposed during the reign of Edward VI, a period marked by economic strain, inflation, and the financial aftershocks of Henry VIII’s reforms. Subsidy rolls like these were compiled at the level of the Hundred and list householders who were taxed on goods, land, or wages, making them one of the most important surviving population records between the 1520s and the first parish registers. For East Sussex, the 1550 assessment is especially valuable: many parish registers begin decades later, and few other documents record ordinary residents with such precision. These rolls therefore provide a rare snapshot of local society in the years immediately following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, capturing the names, relative wealth, and settlement patterns of Tudor families across the county.
In 2009 I paid for the National Archives to copy these Lay Subsidy Rolls (tax payments collected on cow hides), because nobody has previously requested this be done, so they were not available. These rolls (rots) may also be relevant to other genealogists, so I am sharing high resolution images of them here. I still have a record of the receipts.
This post provides high‑resolution scans of the 1550 East Sussex Lay Subsidy Rolls, covering the Hundreds of Lewes, Horsham, Cuckfield, Rotherfield, Mayfield, and Hartfield. These rare cowhide roll images preserve the original Tudor‑era tax assessments, listing householders, valuations, and payments in remarkable detail. Although the handwriting is challenging and full transcription remains incomplete, many entries are legible and offer valuable insights for genealogists, local historians, and researchers of early modern Sussex. The scans are in the public domain and freely available here for study and analysis.
Key
Amounts are usually given in Pounds, Shillings and Pennies
The ‘j’ indicates the last penny of each amount
Note
It would take me far too long to order these rolls (rots) according to their Borough, village or district and I could easily make a mistake, because they are so hard to read. Thus I will simply list them with their Roll file index name and leave it to others to dig further! Continue reading “East Sussex Lay Subsidy Rolls: 1550 – Rotherfield, Cuckfield, Horsham, Lewes and others.” →
