Llantrisant: The Royal Mint’s Home
For hundreds of years, The Royal Mint was based primarily in London. In 1969, this changed when decimalisation and greater demand required greater space.
Dealing with increased demand
The need to rebuild The Royal Mint had been recognised in the 1950s, but it was the task of striking hundreds of millions of coins in readiness for decimalisation in 1971, while at the same time not neglecting overseas customers, which brought matters to a head. In 1967, it was announced that a new Royal Mint would be built at Llantrisant, some 10 miles from Cardiff, thereby according with government policy of transferring industry from the capital to development areas. Work began on the site almost at once and the first phase was opened by Her Majesty The Queen on 17 December 1968.
Slowly leaving london
Once the initial requirement for decimal coins had been satisfied, production was progressively transferred from Tower Hill to Llantrisant. Melting, rolling and blanking facilities were completed and 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 relinquished in 1980.
The Royal Mint’s New, Permanent Home
The new mint, located near Wales’ capital city of Cardiff, occupies an area of more than 30 acres. Its buildings house some of the most advanced coining machinery in the world and it has a larger capacity than any other mint in Western Europe.
OUR HISTORY
find out more