Groat (coin) Groat (coin) The groat is the traditional name of a long-defunct English and Irish silver coin worth four pence, and also a Scottish coin originally worth fourpence, with later issues being valued at eightpence and one shilling. The name has also been applied to any thick or large coin, such as the "Groschen" ("grosso"), a silver coin issued by Tyrol in 1271 and Venice in the 13th century, which was the first of this general size to circulate in the Holy Roman Empire and other parts of Europe. The immediate ancestor to the groat was the French "gros tournois" or
History of the English penny (1603–1707) argument was not with the king but with his "evil advisors". In 1638 a new mint was opened at Aberystwyth castle, Wales, to produce smaller coins (penny to half-crown) from locally produced silver. These are identifiable by having plumes (like the Prince of Wales's feathers on the 1967–2007 era decimal Two decimal pence coin) on the reverse. Following damage to the castle mint in 1648 there was a short-lived mint located at the actual silver mine in Aberystwyth in 1648/9, but no records have survived of what coins were produced there. With the take-over by the English Parliament of the