The Royal Mint Story

The manufacture of coins, or minting, began in Britain around the end of the second century BC.

Early coins like this were cast in moulds, but later they were struck by hand in a process that would continue to be used for the next 1500 years.

At the time of Alfred the Great there were about 30 mints in Britain and by the reign of Aethelred II (978-1016) the number had grown to more than 70. These were mostly in the south and most market towns would have had their own mint.

By the Norman Conquest the number of mints had begun to decline and from the early part of the 13th century minting was mainly confined to London and Canterbury.

The letters CANT which represent Canterbury can be seen on the reverse of this penny of Henry III.

And the letters LONDE CIVITAS for London appear on this example struck at the capital.

The precise location of the London mint at that time is uncertain but it is placed by one account in Old Change, conveniently close to the goldsmiths’ quarter in Cheapside.

By about 1279 minting had moved to more secure quarters within the Tower of London. Government records show the sum of £729 17s 8½d paid for work on the mint in the Tower and references ‘the little tower where the treasure of the mint is kept’.

Minting processes were finally mechanised in the 17th century. The use of mills and presses improved the appearance of the coins and made them more difficult to clip and counterfeit but it also highlighted the cramped conditions in the Tower. Occasional disputes with the garrison caused further tension, and as the 18th century drew to a close there was talk of moving the Mint.

Following the outbreak of war with France, the demands of the garrison, coupled with the difficulty of accommodating new steam-powered machinery, led at last to a decision for the Mint to leave the confines of the Tower. The site chosen for the new Royal Mint was on nearby Tower Hill, in an area recently occupied by tobacco warehouses and much earlier by the great Cistercian Abbey of St Mary of Graces.

Plans were drawn up by Royal Mint surveyor James Johnson for the new Royal Mint buildings at Little Tower Hill.

Preliminary work began in 1805, the buildings were finished by the end of 1809, and the new steam-powered machinery was given a trial run the following year. By August 1812 the keys of the old mint were finally delivered to the Constable of the Tower.

The main building of the new mint, which was completed by Robert Smirke, was flanked by two guard houses with factory buildings hidden behind. A narrow alley ran along the inside of the boundary wall and was patrolled by soldiers from the Royal Mint’s military guard, earning it the name the Military Way.

In the 1880s the factory buildings were reconstructed and extended, with new coining presses being installed and melting and rolling capacity increased. Steam gave way to electricity and the work of construction and renovation became a continuous process as the Royal Mint attempted to cope with an enormous increase in the demand for coin at home and overseas.

Work began on the site almost at once and the first phase was opened by Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 17 December 1968.

Once the initial requirement for decimal coins had been satisfied, production was transferred from Tower Hill to Llantrisant. A second phase of development was commissioned in 1975 and with the new mint capable of the full range of minting activity the last coin, a gold sovereign, was struck in London in November of that year. The Tower Hill buildings were finally closed in 1980.

The last 50 years have been a period of great change at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant.

Since the 1980s there has been an accelerating change in the focus of production. A large proportion of the output of the Royal Mint now consists of commemorative coins and medals, struck to mark significant events and anniversaries.

The Mint has diversified into new areas such as bullion and gifting, with the site becoming a visitor attraction in 2016 after the opening of the Royal Mint Experience.

After over 1100 years of continuous history the primary duty of the Mint remains the supply of coins for use in the United Kingdom.