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This is the Conversation Forum for Guy Fawkes and Bonfire Night << Guy Fawkes How to celebrate properly >> Subject: Tallies Posted May 16, 2004 by Vestboy   Posting 1 In the early days of accounting a tax record was kept on stips of wood. The amount owed was notched into the wood and then the wood was spoit down the middle and half was kept by the tax payer while the other half was kept by the revenue. When the tax payer paid his or her (but not as likely in those times) taxes the two halves of the tallies were matched up to see that the payer hadn't sawn off a few notches to reduce the bill or that the tax office hadn't added a couple for fun. Once paid the wooden tallies were stored for possible future reference and record keeping. Where were they stored? Why, underneath the good old Houses of Parliament. The Gunpowder Plot wasn't just to set off the gunpowder but to light all of the tallies and have one huge fire. They aren't stored there now. Read the First Reply to this Posting Subject: Tallies Posted Sep 8, 2004 by geezerguyfawkes This is a reply to this Posting   Posting 2 Nope! The room chosen was a coal storage room before the coal was cleared out and the room rented by the plotters. To learn more go here: http://www.bcpl.net/~cbladey/guy/html/mainz.html CB Read the First Reply to this Posting Subject: Tallies Posted Sep 8, 2004 by Vestboy This is a reply to this Posting   Posting 3 http://www.thocp.net/timeline/papers/tallies.pdf Look at the bottom of page 2 and the top of page 3. What Guy Fawkes & co. couldn't do the Exchequer managed to do later on, by accident! Conversation list Most of the content on h2g2 is created by h2g2's Researchers, who are members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of the BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of any external sites referenced. In the event that you consider anything on this page to be in breach of the site's House Rules, please click on the relevant button to alert our Moderation Team. Conversation list

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