Tower of London
From the end of the thirteenth century until the start of the nineteenth, the Royal Mint was located in the Tower of London. Stretched out in the narrow passage between the inner and outer walls, the Royal Mint occupied buildings which ran for 400 feet around the three sides of the fortress not bounded by the river. More >
Tower Hill
With additional space being required to allow the installation of steam-powered machinery, the Royal Mint left the Tower at the beginning of the nineteenth century and moved to a purpose-built facility on nearby Tower Hill. To the Royal Mint officers, accustomed to the cramped conditions in the Tower, the new site was 'simple, beautiful and effectual'.
In the 1880s the factory buildings were reconstructed and extended. Further rebuilding was undertaken at the turn of the century with steam giving way to electricity.
The work of construction and renovation became a continuous process as the Royal Mint endeavoured to cope with the enormous increase in its output. By the 1960s little of the original mint remained, apart from the dignified main building and the massive gatehouses which still stand today. More >
Llantrisant
The striking of more and more coins for overseas countries placed a tremendous strain upon the four-and-a-half acre Tower Hill site but it was the exceptionally large requirements arising from decimalisation that finally necessitated the building of a new mint.
In accordance with government policy of moving industry away from the capital, several sites were considered in development areas including Cumbernauld near Glasgow, Runcorn on Merseyside and Washington in County Durham. The final decision, however, was in favour of Llantrisant in South Wales set in the rolling green countryside on the edge of the Rhondda Valley. More >