I found in the London Metropolitan Archives an interesting document regarding a fund to rebuild St Paul’s cathedral. After the Great Fire of London in 1666 a fund was set-up to collect donations to support the rebuilding of St. Paul’s cathedral. Each parish was asked to contribute, with the following picture being the submission from Calstone.
As you can see it is dated 1st October 1678 and consists of two donations of six pence each. That doesn’t sound much but is worth between £20 and £200 depending on how inflation is calculated in the intervening years. If a similar amount was received from every parish in the country, between 13,000 and 18,000 of them, that would add up to a sizable sum—and of course most parishes were significantly larger than Calstone. This money was in addition to main source of income, the “coal tax” levied on all coal entering London from 1667 to 1700. This tax helped to pay for the rebuilding of London’s roads and public buildings, including St Paul’s which received 60% of the funds raised. The total rebuilding cost was £738,845.