Royal Mint was historically part of a series of mints that became centralised to produce coins for the Kingdom of England, all of Great Britain and eventually most of the British Empire. The original London mint from which the Royal Mint is the successor, was established in 886 AD and operated within the Tower of London for approximately 800 years before moving to what is now called Royal Mint Court where it remained until the 1960s. As Britain followed the rest of the world in decimalising its currency, the Mint moved from London to a new plant in Llantrisant, Wales where it
Royal Mint act as an air-raid shelter and even accepted employment of women for the first time. For most of the war the mint managed to escape the destruction of the Blitz until December 1940 when three members of staff were killed in an air-raid. Around the same time an auxiliary mint was set up at Pinewood Studios which had been requisitioned for the war effort. Staff and machinery from Tower Hill were moved to the site in Buckinghamshire where it started production in June 1941 and operated for the duration of the war. Over the course of the war the Royal