Chimney Money Public Deposited
also called Hearth Money, was a crown duty for every fire- place in a house, established 14 Charles II (c. 2). It was productive of great dis- content and was abolished by 1 William and Mary (Stat, 1. c. 10).
Pepys, in his Diary , under October 15, 1666, writes, " One moved that the chimney- money might be taken from the King."
- Frey's Dictionary (American Journal of Numismatics, Vol. 50, 1916)