Legal Definitions - hearth money

Definition: Hearth money was a tax of two shillings that was imposed on every fireplace in England during the reign of Charles II. This tax was extremely unpopular and was abolished in 1688. It was also known as chimney money.

Example: If a house had five fireplaces, the owner would have to pay ten shillings as hearth money.

The example illustrates how the hearth money tax was calculated based on the number of fireplaces in a house. The more fireplaces a house had, the higher the tax amount would be.