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 million. Coin minting and production gradually shifted to the new site over the next seven years until the last coin, a gold sovereign, was struck in London in November 1975. In an attempt to consolidate all previous coin-related acts, the "Coinage Act of 1971" was passed, which among other things effectively abolished the individual role of Master of the Mint. Under this act, the Chancellor of the Exchequer took over the role, with a Deputy Master being appointed by the Treasury to exercise all the powers and duties of the Master within the mint. After moving to Wales, the mint