poll tax returns of 1377. The poll
tax was introduced in this year by Richard II, with a flat rate of one
groat (fourpence) per head for all adults over 16, clergy and paupers being
exempt. In 1379 a sliding scale was introduced, with the basic rate remaining
at fourpence, while tradesmen and artisans paid 6d, farmers, merchants
and innkeepers 1/-, and franklins forty pence. A franklin was a farmer
not of gentle birth who owned his own land, and in 1379 Laurence de Armitstead
was the only franklin in Giggleswick the highest taxpayer in the village
apart from Robert Stainford, the lord of the manor, who paid one pound.
The highest tax in the land was paid by John of Gaunt, the king's uncle
(an ancestor, as will appear later) who paid £6.13.4 (ten marks).
It is interestingto note that the total tax levied in Giggleswick, with
a tax-paying population of 355, was £4.11.8, almost as much as that
of Leeds, Huddersfield and Halifax combined.

Another Armitstead, John, is mentioned in the 1379 Poll tax return,
so the name would appear to have become a surname by then rather than just
a place of residence. Surnames were introduced into England by the Normans
and were not in use in Yorkshire before the thirteenth century.

The Flodden roll of 1511 lists the men of Giggleswick called up at
that time who presumably fought at the battle of Flodden Field against
the Scots. Thomas, James and Oliver were required to provide themselves
with a bow, while James Armitstead of Stainforth (he was obviously a man
of property) had to have a bill, bow, able horse and harness.

By the