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 years after its announcement the now named "Royal Mint Experience" opened to the public at a final cost of £9 million. Included in the visitor centre an interactive museum, a view onto the factory floor, an education centre and a press whereby visitors can strike their own souvenir £1 coin. On display at the centre are more than 80,000 artefacts, including Olympic medals, a pattern coin of Edward VIII, a Janvier reducing machine and a selection of trial plates. In the same month the mint took in 48 tonnes of silver recovered from the shipwreck of the SS Gairsoppa which