98-643: The A4119 links Tonypandy with Cardiff in South Wales . The A4119 starts outside the Wales Millennium Centre at Cardiff Bay and proceeds through Butetown , Grangetown , Riverside and Cathedral Road in Canton until meeting the A48 road (Western Avenue) at Llandaff . From here it proceeds through Llandaff passing the former BBC Wales studios. After leaving Llandaff the road takes on
196-456: A Wedgwood plate featuring Britannia . In 2007, the Mint decided to resume its focus on coins, downsizing non-coin related business and discontinuing its Classics range. The 2008 global financial crisis was another financial blow: a rescue package costing £500 billion was announced to help stabilise Britain's banking system. This led to fears that the government would attempt to finance
294-569: A limited company , Royal Mint Ltd . The owner of the new company became The Royal Mint trading fund, which itself continued to be owned by HM Treasury . As its sole shareholder, the mint pays an annual dividend of £4 million to the Treasury, with the remaining profits being reinvested into the mint. In 2015, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced a £20 billion privatisation drive to raise funds, with
392-503: 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 (torpedoed in 1941), which was used to produce limited edition coins. In 2015, after nearly 50 years, the mint began producing its own line of bullion bars and coins under its revived Royal Mint Refinery brand. Then in 2016,
490-420: A pennyweight (0.05 oz); however, these standards meant losses were being made from overvalued metals. In one such case, Ansell delivered 7920.00 oz of gold to the mint, where it was weighed by an official at 7918.15 oz, a difference of 1.85 oz. Requesting a second weighing on a more accurate scale, the bullion was certified to weigh 7919.98 oz, far closer to the previous measurement, which
588-745: A Scots mark was worth just 13 + 1 ⁄ 2 pence while an English mark was worth 6 shillings 8 pence (80 pence). To bridge the difference between the values, unofficial supplementary token coins , often made from lead , were made by unauthorised minters across the country. By 1612, there were 3,000 such unlicensed mints producing these tokens, none of them paying anything to the government. The Royal Mint, not wanting to divert manpower from minting more profitable gold and silver coins, hired outside agent Lord Harington who, under license, started issuing copper farthings in 1613. Private licenses to mint these coins were revoked in 1644, which led traders to resume minting their own supplementary tokens. In 1672,
686-584: A catalyst for change at The Royal Mint, spurring innovation and a portfolio of new businesses. In 2024, The Royal Mint unveiled its new Precious Metals Recovery facility at its site in south Wales. The 3,700 square metre facility provides a more sustainable source of gold to the business; reducing its reliance on mining. It uses world-first patented chemistry from Canadian clean tech company Excir, extracting gold from printed circuit boards (PCBs) found in everyday items, such as TVs, laptops and mobile phones, in minutes. Excir’s chemistry works at room temperature, creating
784-472: A county electoral ward to Mid Glamorgan County Council , electing one county councillor in 1989 and 1993. Since 1995 Tonypandy has been a ward, coterminous with the community boundaries, which elects a county borough councillor to Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council . In 2012 the electorate was 2,739. At every Rhondda Cynon Taf election the seat has been won by the Labour Party , apart from
882-535: A few gold and silver coins before being shut down in 1862 to aid the city of Victoria in becoming the region's provincial capital . On 26 February 1864, an Order in Council requested the founding of an independent mint ( Hong Kong Mint ) in British Hong Kong to issue silver and bronze coins. But this mint was short-lived, due to its coins being heavily debased, causing significant losses. The site
980-517: A few local and episcopal mints continuing to operate. Pipe rolls containing the financial records of the London mint show an expenditure of £729 17s 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 d and records of timber bought for workshops. Individual roles at the mint were well established by 1464. The master worker was charged with hiring engravers and managing moneyers , while the Warden was responsible for witnessing
1078-469: A loss of gold during the manufacturing process. He found that 15 to 20 ounces could be recovered from the sweep, that is, the leftover burnt rubbish from the minting process, which was often left in open boxes for many months before being removed. Wanting to account for every particle and knowing that it was physically impossible for gold just to disappear, he put down the lost weight to a combination of oil , dust , and different types of foreign matter amongst
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#17327760286881176-650: A more rural setting with many bends crossing the M4 Motorway near Capel Llanitern. From here the road snakes past the settlement of Creigiau . The road enters the County Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf (formerly Mid-Glamorgan ) at Groes-faen . The road continues through the Village until it comes to a T-Junction at The Castell Mynach Public House. To the left is a Spur of the A4119 that links to Junction 34 of
1274-537: A series of violent confrontations between coal miners and police that took place at various locations in and around the Rhondda mines of the Cambrian Combine, a cartel of mining companies in South Wales . Tonypandy, unlike the surrounding villages, then grew as a financial and social hub, providing services and amenities for the neighbouring communities. In the early part of the 20th century, Tonypandy
1372-487: A sport were selected by the Mint; the youngest designer was just 9 years old. A £2 coin commemorating London's handover to Rio de Janeiro was also released in 2012. In April 2014, the Mint announced plans to develop a visitor centre in Llantrisant, where members of the public could go on a guided tour of the facility and learn about the mint's history. The development contract, estimated to be worth £7.7 million,
1470-469: A year to the area. By May 2016, two years after its announcement, the attraction, designed by Rio Architects and now named Royal Mint Experience , opened to the public at a final cost of £9 million. The visitor centre includes an interactive museum, a view of the factory floor, an education centre, and a press where visitors can strike their own souvenir 50 pence coin . On display at the centre are more than 80,000 artefacts, including Olympic medals ,
1568-535: Is a limited company that is wholly owned by His Majesty's Treasury and is under an exclusive contract to supply the nation's coinage. As well as minting circulating coins for the UK and international markets, The Royal Mint is a leading provider of precious metal products. The 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 ,
1666-491: Is a town , community and electoral ward located in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf , within the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan , Wales , lying in the Rhondda Fawr Valley. A former industrial coal mining town, the town was the scene of the 1910 Tonypandy riots . The community boundaries of Tonypandy are drawn relatively tightly around the central part of the urban area. According to
1764-419: Is known about the mint's employees, with only Richard Vyvyan and clerk Thomas Hawkes recorded. Following Charles I's execution in 1649, the newly formed Commonwealth of England established its own set of coins, which for the first time used English rather than Latin and were more plainly designed than those issued under the monarchy . The government invited French engineer Peter Blondeau , who worked at
1862-418: Is now a Cul-de-sac . A department store called Homeworld opened in the 1980s prior to the construction of the new Dual Carriageway at Talbot Green until the store was closed in 1999 and demolished in 2000. This, alongside a Tesco Store, marked the rush of new developments in the area, the original Tesco store which opened in the 1980s was closed and demolished in 2003, after it relocated to larger premises on
1960-464: The Bank of England . On average, it produces two billion pound sterling coins struck for general circulation every year, with an estimated 28 billion pieces circulating altogether. Outside the UK, historically, the mint has provided services to over 60 countries, including New Zealand and many Caribbean nations, by producing national currencies or supplying ready-to-strike planchets . In 2015, it
2058-684: The Constable of the Tower . Facing the front of the site stood the Johnson Smirke Building, named for its designer James Johnson and builder Robert Smirke . Construction was supervised by the architect John Lidbury Poole (father of the famous singer, Elizabeth Poole ). This building was flanked on both sides by gatehouses behind which another building housed the mint's new machinery. Several other smaller buildings were erected, which housed mint officers and staff members. The entire site
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#17327760286882156-828: The English Channel . The first record of coins being minted in Britain is attributed to Kentish tribes such as the Cantii who around 80–60 BC imitated those of Marseille through casting instead of hammering . After the Romans began their invasion of Britain in AD ;43, they set up mints across the land, which produced Roman coins for some 40 years before closing. A mint in London reopened briefly in 383 until closing swiftly as Roman rule in Britain came to an end. For
2254-650: The Five Members , he was forced to flee London and established at least 16 emergency mints across the British Isles in Carlisle , Chester , Colchester , Cork , Dublin , Edinburgh , Exeter , Newark , Pontefract , Salisbury , Scarborough , parts of Cornwall including Truro , Weymouth , Worcester , and York (see also siege money ). After raising the royal standard in Nottingham , marking
2352-578: The M4 Motorway . Off the roundabout at the Junction is the Renishaw Plant (formally owned by Bosch .) The road continues after the t-junction past Miskin and Mwyndy. The A4119 through Talbot Green was first built circa 1977 as a single carriageway passing to the side of the village straight on to Ely Valley Road, easing pressure off the original small lanes that lead from Talbot Green to
2450-554: The Nazis planned to collapse the British economy by flooding the country with forged notes, leading the Bank of England to stop issuing banknotes of £10 and above. To meet these demands, the Mint doubled its output so that by 1943 it was minting around 700 million coins a year despite the constant threat of being bombed. The Deputy Master of the Mint, John Craig, recognised the dangers to the Mint and introduced several measures to ensure
2548-638: The Paris Mint , to come to London in 1649 in the hope of modernising the country's minting process. In France, hammer-stuck coins had been banned from the Paris Mint since 1639 and replaced with milled coinage . Blondeau began his testing in May 1651 in Drury House . He initially produced milled silver pattern pieces of half-crowns , shillings and sixpences ; however rival moneyers continued using
2646-486: The Rhondda Line . Tonypandy means fulling mill lea , from Welsh ton (archaic tonnau ) for lea, layland, pasture, grassland or unploughed land; pannu for fulling and tŷ for house (cf. pandy ). (See also Tonna .) The Tonypandy area contains several prehistoric sites, the main one being Mynydd y Gelli . Located to the north-west of the town, the remains of an Iron Age settlement Hen Dre'r Gelli lies on
2744-962: The United Kingdom , and nations across the Commonwealth . The Royal Mint operated within the Tower of London for several hundred 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 38-acre (15 ha) plant in Llantrisant , Glamorgan , Wales , where it has remained since. Since 2018 The Royal Mint has been evolving its business to help offset declining cash use. It has expanded into precious metals investment, historic coins, and luxury collectibles, which saw it deliver an operating profit of £12.7 million in 2020–2021. In 2022 The Royal Mint announced it
2842-477: The 1999 election when then ward was won by Plaid Cymru . Between 2004 and 2017 the Labour councillor was Craig Middle and, since May 2017, the councillor has been Gareth Wyn Hughes. Royal Mint The Royal Mint is the United Kingdom 's official maker of British coins . It is currently located in Llantrisant , Wales , where it moved in 1968. Operating under the legal name The Royal Mint Limited, it
2940-479: The 2011 UK Census, the population of the community was 3,750. The Office for National Statistics defines a larger "Tonypandy built-up area" covering much of the Rhondda Fawr valley and the lower Rhondda Fach valley, which had a population of 62,545 in 2011. They also define a smaller "Tonypandy built-up area sub division" which had a population of 17,789. The town is served by Tonypandy railway station on
3038-907: The A4119 continued along Colliers Way and Llwynypia Road, where it again followed its original course, to a Terminus at Llwynypia Hospital with the A4058 , but following the completion of the Porth Relief Road, the roads were re-numbered. Therefore, Colliers Way and the Tonypandy North Bypass are now part of the A4058 Pontypridd to Treorchy route. Download coordinates as: 51°31′41″N 3°22′01″W / 51.5281°N 3.3670°W / 51.5281; -3.3670 ( A4119 road ) Tonypandy Tonypandy ( / t ɒ n ə ˈ p æ n d i / , Welsh pronunciation: [tɔnəˈpandi] )
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3136-466: The A4119 meets momentarily with its original course before continuing along the old Railway line. The route then bypasses the village of Penygraig and south of Tonypandy , where is progresses down a steep incline. There is a spur with Clydach Vale before the road, still following an old railway line, progresses down to the floor of the valley where the A4119 ends with a roundabout of the A4058. Originally
3234-622: The Coed-Ely Colliery is on the left. From here the road is still single carriageway with numerous rest areas. The road continues on another bypass past Tonyrefail . Shortly after Tonyrefail the road once again forks, with a junction for the A4233 which links with Trebanog and Porth . The A4119 from here follows the floor of the Valley through woodland and past a small industrial estate with the Village of Williamstown . At this roundabout,
3332-423: The Mint came under increased scrutiny of how it dealt with unrefined gold that had entered the country. The Master of the Mint had been responsible for overseeing the practice since the position's inception in the 14th century. However, the refinery process proved too costly and suffered from a lack of accountability from the master. A Royal Commission was set up in 1848 to address these issues; it recommended that
3430-532: The Mint could continue to operate in the event of a disaster. Craig added emergency water supplies, reinforced the Mint's basement to 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 most of the destruction of the Blitz , but in December 1940 three members of staff were killed in an air raid . Around the same time, an auxiliary mint
3528-427: The Mint; each medal was struck 15 times with 900 tonnes of force. In addition to securing the medal product contract, the Mint held a competition to design a series of commemorative 50p coins that would enter general circulation before the event. The Mint received over 30,000 entries, with a further 17,000 from a children's competition on the television programme Blue Peter . In all, a total of 29 designs featuring
3626-585: The Royal Family would face protests because some Welsh people were unhappy about the Investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales ; however, no such protests materialised. The second phase of construction began in 1973 and included the addition of a means to mint coins from raw metals; thus completing the full minting process. Upon completion the final cost for the land, buildings and plant came to £8 million. Coin minting gradually shifted to
3724-652: The Royal Mint being up for sale alongside other institutions including the Met Office and Companies House . In 2012 The Royal Mint had a network of hundreds of UK sellers of their products. This ensured competitive pricing and availability to the UK public. After London was selected to host the 2012 Summer Olympics , the Royal Mint put in a successful bid to manufacture the Games' Olympic and Paralympic medals . 4,700 gold, silver and bronze medals were produced by
3822-562: The Royal Mint finally took over the production of copper coinage. In 1630, sometime before the outbreak of the English Civil War , England signed a treaty with Spain that ensured a steady supply of silver bullion to the Tower mint . Additional branch mints to aid the one in London were set up, including one at Aberystwyth Castle in Wales. In 1642, parliament seized control of the Tower mint. After Charles I tried to arrest
3920-434: The Royal Mint on 19 Royal Mint Street under the name of Royal Mint Refinery . As Britain's influence as a world power expanded, with colonies being established abroad, a greater need for currency led to the Royal Mint opening satellite branches overseas. This need first arose in the then- Colony of New South Wales , as the black-market trade in gold during and following the 1851 Australian gold rush threatened to undermine
4018-611: The Sydney branch closed after 72 years of operation at the end of 1926. Following the establishment of the Royal Australian Mint as a central mint for Australian coinage, the Melbourne and Perth mints were divested by the Royal Mint on 1 July 1970. In Canada , which had been under British rule since 1763, British coins circulated alongside those of other nations until 1858, when London started producing coins for
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4116-603: The Sydney branch led to the opening of similar branches in Melbourne and Perth , on 2 June 1872 and 20 June 1899 respectively. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901 and the establishment of a separate Australian pound in 1910, all three branches were used by the Commonwealth government to mint circulating coins for Australia. The Melbourne and Perth branches had capabilities superior to those in Sydney, and they took over production responsibilities for Australia when
4214-627: The Welsh Blood Service. On the south-bound carriageway is a long stretch of original road, although now a parking area where refreshment vans and sleepy truckers are a common sight, it provides access to some houses and a rural lane leading to Llantrisant. The Road then comes to a roundabout with a turn-off for the Llantrisant Industrial Park, which is home to the Royal Mint . Another smaller roundabout at
4312-497: The amount of precious metal in coins significantly reduced. In order to strengthen control of the country's currency, monasteries were dissolved, which effectively ended major coin production outside London . In 1603, the Union of Crowns of England and Scotland under King James I led to a partial union of the two kingdoms' currencies, the pound Scots and the pound sterling . Because Scotland had heavily debased its silver coins,
4410-452: The area known as Mwyndy, south of the village. The road here was built at the same time as an extension of the original Talbot – Cardiff road, leading to Junction 34 of the M4 Motorway , and creating better access to the lanes leading to the Vale of Glamorgan . At Mwyndy Cross, you can still see the original lane that the road used, signposted "Arthur Llewelyn Jenkins", the lane is accessible to
4508-468: The beginning of the civil war, Charles called on loyalist mining engineer Thomas Bushell , the owner of a mint and silver mine in Aberystwyth , to move his operations to the royalist-held Shrewsbury , possibly within the grounds of Shrewsbury Castle . However, this mint was short-lived, operating for no more than three months before Charles ordered Bushell to relocate the mint to his headquarters in
4606-645: The colony's economy. In 1851 the colony's Legislative Council sent Queen Victoria a petition seeking a local mint for Sydney , and in 1853 the Queen issued an Order in Council providing for the establishment of the Sydney Branch of the Royal Mint . The Royal Mint's Superintendent of Coining travelled to Australia to oversee its establishment on Macquarie Street within the southern wing of Sydney Hospital , where it opened in 1855. Production increased quickly: assayer's notes from 29 October 1855 indicate that
4704-537: The cost by selling off state-owned organisations. In his 2009 pre-budget report, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling stated that the Treasury would "explore the potential benefits of alternative future models for the Royal Mint". A month later in his 2009 United Kingdom budget , he recommended that the mint be made a company with a view to it being sold. The recommendation
4802-574: The country's growing problems with counterfeiting. By this time, forgeries accounted for 10% of the country's coinage, clipping was commonplace and the value of the silver in coins had surpassed their face value . King William III initiated the Great Recoinage of 1696 whereby all coins were removed from circulation, and enacted the Coin Act 1696 , making it high treason to own or possess counterfeiting equipment. Satellite mints to aid in
4900-496: The delivery of dies. A specialist mint board was set up in 1472 to enact a 23 February indenture that vested the mint's responsibilities into three main roles: a warden , a master and comptroller . In the early 16th century, mainland Europe was in the middle of an economic expansion , but England was suffering from financial difficulties brought on by excessive government spending. By the 1540s, wars with France and Scotland led Henry VIII to enact The Great Debasement , which saw
4998-596: The first gold ETF backed 100% by the London Bullion Market Association responsible sourcing programme. Investors can also convert RMAU into coins and gold bars. The Royal Mint partnered with white label ETF firm HANetf. As the sole body responsible for minting legal tender coins in the United Kingdom under contract from HM Treasury , the mint produces all of the country's physical currency apart from banknotes which are printed by
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#17327760286885096-600: The former Homeworld site. Talbot Green Shopping Park was built on the former Tesco site and opened in 2004. At the next roundabout the road takes the shape of a bow passed the Ely Meadows which is now the site of Magden Park, a development of Offices, Hotel, Pub and private Health facility. Bypassing the Royal Glamorgan Hospital , Avionics department of British Airways and the Headquarters of
5194-547: The furniture store and as far as Cefn-y-Parc cemetery but is blocked at the bypass. There is a roundabout with the Talbot Green Bypass after passing Mwyndy Cross and the original roads – the A473 Pontypridd to Bridgend Road. This roundabout was added when the bypass was built in 1991 and was improved during mid 2016 to mid 2017 to add extra dedicated lanes and a traffic lighting system. Another roundabout,
5292-605: The gold standard in 1931. The Bombay Mint sovereign was the £1 coin. From 1928, the Irish Free State (later the Republic of Ireland) issued its own coins . The Royal Mint produced these until Ireland established its own Currency Centre in Dublin in 1978. During World War II, the Mint was important in ensuring people were paid for their services with hard currency rather than banknotes. Under Operation Bernhard ,
5390-415: The gold. In 1859, the Royal Mint rejected a batch of gold found to be too brittle for the minting of gold sovereigns. Analysis revealed the presence of small amounts of antimony , arsenic and lead . With Ansell's background in chemistry , he persuaded the Royal Mint to allow him to experiment with the alloy , and was ultimately able to produce 167,539 gold sovereigns . On a second occasion in 1868, it
5488-432: The introduction of electricity and demand continued to grow, the rebuilding process continued so that by the 1960s, little of the original mint remained, apart from Smirke's 1809 building and its gatehouses at the front. On 1 March 1966, the government announced plans to decimalise the nation's currency, thereby requiring the withdrawal of millions of coins and the re-minting of new ones. At its current site on Tower Hill,
5586-517: The last of whom was appointed Graver of Seals, Stamps, and Medals in 1643. When Prince Rupert took control of Oxford that same year, Bushell was ordered to move to Bristol Castle , where he continued minting coins until it fell to parliamentary control on 11 September 1645, effectively ending Bushell's involvement in the civil war mints. In November 1642, the king ordered royalist MP Richard Vyvyan to build one or more mints in Cornwall, where he
5684-592: The mill that once stood in Tonypandy, and from which the town took its name". In the mid-19th century, the Rhondda began its industrial transformation after the successful excavation of coal. With the extension of the Taff Vale Railway to Treherbert and Maerdy in 1856, the Rhondda grew as absentee landlords switched their interests from farming to mining. The Tonypandy riots of 1910 and 1911 were
5782-399: The mint announced plans for Royal Mint Gold (RMG), a digital gold currency that uses blockchain to trade and invest in gold . However, this project was cancelled in 2018. The Royal Mint, in February 2020, listed its first financial product: the Royal Mint Physical Gold Commodity Exchange-traded fund (ETF): RMAU. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse . RMAU is
5880-411: The mint became more profitable through heavy exports. In April 1990, the mint became an Executive Agency; however, by 2001, the mint had reported its first annual loss: a result attributed to only securing 5% of new Euro coin production rather than the projected 20%. Despite this, the mint began diversifying its product range by offering items outside its usual coin-related merchandise. Around this time,
5978-420: The mint closed on 30 June 1941 but was later reopened as the South African Mint . Although London's Royal Mint officially controlled just six mints, many more independent mints were set up in parts of the British Empire . At New Westminster in British Columbia , the British Columbia gold rushes led to a mint being established in 1862 by Francis George Claudet , under Governor James Douglas . It produced
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#17327760286886076-419: The mint had suffered from lack of space for many years, and it would be inadequate to meet the anticipated high demand a recoinage would entail. A possible move to a more suitable site had been discussed as far back as 1870, when Deputy Master of the Mint Charles Fremantle had recommended it in his first annual report. At the time, it had been suggested that the valuable land at Tower Hill could be sold to finance
6174-415: The mint was selling different types of jewellery, commemorative plates and figurines, eventually creating its own Royal Mint Classics range of collectible goods. This part of the business proved popular in attracting new customers, but it suffered from poor product development. Its products included a hip flask with an embedded £2 coin , an Edinburgh Crystal clock combined with a millennium Crown , and
6272-406: The mint's Bullion Office had purchased 14,000 troy ounces (440 kg) of unrefined gold in the preceding week alone, and the mint's overall coin output averaged over £1,000,000 yearly in its first five years of operation. In 1868, gold sovereigns minted in Sydney were made legal tender in all British colonies, and in February 1886 they were given equal status in the UK itself. The success of
6370-408: The mint's issues. In a letter to the Treasury dated 29 October 1856, Ansell was put forward as a candidate. He was appointed as a temporary clerk on 12 November 1856, with a salary of £120 per year. Upon taking office, Ansell discovered that the weighing of metals at the mint was extremely loose. At the mint, it had been the custom to weigh silver to the nearest 0.5 troy ounces (16 g) and gold to
6468-424: The need to supply its coinage. This, along with the need for new mint machinery and cramped conditions within the Tower of London , led to plans for the mint to move to nearby East Smithfield . Construction started in 1805 of the new purpose-built mint on Tower Hill, opposite the Tower of London, and it was completed by 1809. In 1812, the move became official: the keys of the old mint were ceremoniously delivered to
6566-426: The new site over the next seven years, and the last coin, a gold sovereign, was struck in London in November 1975. After moving to Wales, the mint struggled to be profitable as the Western world fell into a deep recession during the early 1970s. To combat a rising national debt, the mint was established as a trading fund on 1 April 1975, which required it to become self-financing. This measure proved successful, and
6664-399: The newly established Canadian dollar . As Canada developed in 1890, calls were made for a mint to be built in Ottawa to facilitate the country's gold mines. The new mint was opened on 2 January 1908 by Lord Grey , producing coins for circulation, including Ottawa Mint sovereigns . In 1931, under the Statute of Westminster , the mint came under the control of the Government of Canada and
6762-399: The next 200 years, no coins appear to have been minted in Britain until the emergence of English kingdoms in the sixth and seventh centuries. By 650, as many as 30 mints are recorded across Britain. In 1279, the country's numerous mints were unified under a single system whereby control was centralised to the mint within the Tower of London . Mints outside London were reduced, with only
6860-412: The old Roundabout near Llantrisant with a four way traffic-lit junction, and completely replaced the original Ely Valley Road at Talbot Green apart from the first portion: a t-junction from the centre Talbot Green's high street that leads to a row of houses and a Golf Club, this is the only remaining section Ely Valley Road that is un-altered, still bearing the original road surface and signage, although it
6958-538: The old hammering method. In 1656, Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell ordered engraver Thomas Simon to cut a series of dies featuring his bust and for them to be minted using the new milled method. Few of Cromwell's coins entered circulation; Cromwell died in 1658 and the Commonwealth collapsed two years later. Without Cromwell's backing of milled coinage, Blondeau returned to France, leaving England to continue minting hammer-struck coins. In 1662, after previous attempts to introduce milled coinage into Britain had failed,
7056-488: The purchase of land at nearby Whitefriars and pay for a new mint building. However, after many years of subsequent debate in Parliament it had been decided that improvements could be made to the existing site at Tower Hill. With Decimal Day set for 1971, the government quickly decided where to establish the new mint. Over twenty sites were considered, including suggestions for Scotland and Northern Ireland; however,
7154-649: The recoinage were established in Bristol , Chester , Exeter , Norwich , and York , with returned coins being valued by weight, not face value . The Acts of Union 1707 united England and Scotland into one country, leading London to take over production of Scotland's currency and thus replacing Scotland's Pound Scots with the English Pound sterling . As a result, the Edinburgh mint closed on 4 August 1710. As Britain's empire continued to expand, so too did
7252-572: The refinery process be outsourced to an external agency, thereby removing the refining process from the mint's responsibilities. The opportunity to oversee the Mint's refinery was taken up by Anthony de Rothschild , a descendant of the Rothschild family and heir to the multinational investment banking company N M Rothschild & Sons . Rothschild secured a lease from the government in January 1852, purchasing equipment and premises adjacent to
7350-462: The remains of the fortification were mostly destroyed during railway construction works in the 19th century. The fortification was for many years wrongly thought to be the burial place of Rhys ap Tewdwr or a druidic worship site. The regional library service recounts that the name 'Tonypandy' means the meadow of the fulling mill which was established there in 1838. "E. D. Lewis in his work The Rhondda Valleys provides us with an outline history of
7448-482: The restored monarch Charles II recalled Peter Blondeau to establish a permanent machine-made coinage. Despite the introduction of the newer, milled coins, like the old hammered coins they suffered heavily from counterfeiting and clipping . To combat this the text Decus et tutamen ("An ornament and a safeguard") was added to some coin rims. After the Glorious Revolution of 1688, when James II
7546-497: The royal capital of Oxford . The new Oxford mint was established on 15 December 1642 in New Inn Hall , the present site of St Peter's College . There, silver plates and foreign coins were melted down and, in some cases, just hammered into shape to produce coins quickly. Bushell was appointed the mint's warden and master-worker, and he laboured alongside notable engravers Nicholas Briot , Thomas Rawlins and Nicholas Burghers ,
7644-521: The section between the Ynysmaerdy and Coedely roundabouts to the dual carriageway and is expected to be completed in August 2024. At the next roundabout the road splits, this is where a bypass separates from the original course of the A4119. The old road through the village of Coed-Ely is to the right. The bypass, completed in 1987, takes the route of the old Ely Valley Railway, and the former site of
7742-493: The slopes of Mynydd Y Gelli hill between Tonypandy and Gelli . Near the same location are several Bronze Age cairns . Tonypandy is also the site of one of two permanent Middle Ages fortifications found within the Rhondda Valley. Named Ynysygrug, it was a lesser motte and bailey earthwork defence consisting of a wooden tower surrounded by a small fortified courtyard. Built around the 12th or early 13th century,
7840-403: The small Welsh town of Llantrisant , ten miles (16 km) northwest of Cardiff , was eventually chosen. Work on the new mint began in August 1967 with the construction of a blank treatment plant and a plant for striking. This first phase of the mint was formally opened on 17 December 1968 in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II , Prince Philip , and Prince Charles . There had been fears that
7938-587: The village of Ynysmaerdy, where the new Headquarters of the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service is located, marks the end of the Dual Carriageway, the road becomes a single carriageway again at this point. Past Ynysmaerdy the dual carriage way merged into a single lane to climb a hill, which is known locally as "Stink Pot Hill" because of the sewerage works that are on the side of the road. In August 2022, construction started on here to upgrade
8036-409: Was again discovered that gold coins, this time totalling £500,000 worth, were being produced with inferior gold. Although the standard practice at the mint was for rejected coins (known as brockages) to be melted down, many entered general circulation, and the mint was forced to return thousands of ounces of gold to the Bank of England . Although Ansell offered to re-melt the substandard coins, his offer
8134-569: Was also used as the opening venue for the 1908–09 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain , when the visiting Australian rugby league team began its campaign with a match against Mid-Rhondda. When the Mid-Rhondda RLFC collapsed in 1909, the committee refocused on creating an association football team. In 1912 Mid Rhondda F.C. was formed, winning the South League Second Division in 1919–20. In 1988 Tonypandy became
8232-643: Was awarded to construction firm ISG and design consultant Mather & Co. , who had previously designed the Norwegian Olympic Museum , as well as a handful of visitor attractions for sports clubs including Chelsea F.C. , Manchester City F.C. , FC Porto , and the Springboks . To fund the development, a grant of £2.3 million was provided by the Welsh Government towards the attraction which aimed to attract 200,000 visitors
8330-529: Was building a new plant in South Wales to recover precious metals from electronic waste . The first of this sustainably sourced gold is already being used in a new jewellery division – 886 by The Royal Mint – named in celebration of its symbolic founding date. The history of coins in Great Britain can be traced back to the second century BC when they were introduced by Celtic tribes from across
8428-458: Was estimated that 2.4 billion coins were minted for overseas countries, exceeding domestic coinage production and providing over 60% of the mint's revenue from circulating currencies. In 2024, it announced that due to the decline in cash use globally, it will cease its overseas coin production. The Royal Mint remains fully committed to making UK coins, which has been at the heart of The Royal Mint for 1,100 years. Declining cash use has been
8526-622: Was home to Mid-Rhondda RLFC , one of the first Welsh rugby league teams. Although surviving only one season, the club transformed into Mid-Rhondda AFC, one of the most notable association football teams the Rhondda has produced. Both Mid-Rhondda teams played at the Athletic Ground, now known as "the Mid" . The pitch is notable as having hosted the first international match between the Wales and England rugby league teams on 20 April 1908. It
8624-458: Was instructed to mint coins from whatever bullion could be obtained and deliver them to Ralph Hopton , a commander of royalist troops in the region. Vyvyan built a mint in Truro and was its Master until 1646, when it was captured by parliamentarians . In December 1642, the parliamentarians set up a mint in nearby Exeter , which had been under parliamentary control since the beginning of the war and
8722-626: Was located at the base of Llantrisant, where the A473 originally ran. When the bypass was built, it cut off the original main road from Cowbridge via Pontyclun and therefore traffic is forced to use the new Bypass. The decision was made by Mid-Glamorgan County Council in the early 1990s to dual the section of A4119 between Ynysmaerdy and Mwyndy. This would be the last major road project undertaken by Mid-Glamorgan before its abolishment in 1996. The completed "Talbot Green to Ynysmaerdy Dual Carriageway" officially opened on 28 July 1995. The scheme replaced
8820-459: Was met with outrage by unions and opposition parties in parliament, who called it the "selling off the family silver" and said it would result in job losses. In contrast, the chief executive of the mint, Andrew Stafford, welcomed the proposal, saying that it would lead to further growth and secure the future of the business. On 31 December 2009, rather than being fully privatised, the mint ceased to be an executive agency and its assets were vested in
8918-437: Was off by 960 grains . To increase the accuracy of weights, more precise weighing equipment was ordered, and the tolerance was revised to 0.10 oz for silver and 0.01 oz for gold. Between 1856 and 1866, the old scales were gradually removed and replaced with scales made by Messrs. De Grave, Short, and Fanner; winners of an 1862 International Exhibition prize award for work relating to balances . Ansell also noticed
9016-464: Was ousted from power, parliament took over control of the mint from the Crown , which had until then allowed the mint to act as an independent body producing coins on behalf of the government. Under the patronage of Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax , Isaac Newton became the mint's warden in 1696. His role, intended to be a sinecure , was taken seriously by Newton, who went about trying to combat
9114-707: Was protected by a boundary wall patrolled by the Royal Mint's military guard. By 1856, the mint was beginning to prove inefficient: there were irregularities in minted coins' fineness and weight. Instructed by Prime Minister Lord Palmerston , the Master of the Mint Thomas Graham was informed that unless the mint could raise its standards and become more economical, it would be broken up and placed under management by contractors. Graham sought advice from German chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann , who in turn recommended his student George Frederick Ansell to resolve
9212-471: Was rejected, causing a row between him and senior mint chiefs, which ultimately led to him being removed from his position at the mint. After the high-level practice as deputy engraver in the Royal Mint, Charles Wiener went then to Lisbon in 1864 as chief engraver to the Mint of Portugal. In 1863 he made a commemorative medal for Prince Albert (1819-1861), consort of Queen Victoria. (Victoria and Albert Museum). After relocating to its new home on Tower Hill,
9310-454: Was set up at Pinewood Studios , Buckinghamshire , which had been requisitioned for the war effort. Staff and machinery from Tower Hill were moved to the site, which started production in June 1941 and operated for the duration of the war. Over the course of the war, the Royal Mint was hit on several occasions, and at one point was put out of commission for three weeks. As technology changed with
9408-651: Was sold to Jardine Matheson in 1868, and the mint machinery was sold to the Japanese Mint in Osaka . In 1914, as war broke out in Europe, Chancellor of the Exchequer David Lloyd George instructed that gold coins be removed from circulation to help pay for the war effort. The government started to issue £1 and 10-shilling Treasury notes as replacements, paving the way for Britain to leave
9506-667: Was subsequently renamed the Royal Canadian Mint . A fifth branch of the Royal Mint was established in Mumbai (Bombay), India on 21 December 1917 as part of a wartime effort. It struck sovereigns from 15 August 1918 until 22 April 1919 but closed in May 1919. A sixth and final overseas mint was established in the Union of South Africa in Pretoria on 1 January 1923, producing £83,114,575 worth of sovereigns in its lifetime. As South Africa began cutting ties with Britain,
9604-545: Was under constant threat of attack by loyalist troops. In September 1643, the town was captured by the Cornish Royalist Army led by Prince Maurice , leading Vyvyan to move his nearby mint in Truro to the captured town. The exact location of the mint in Exeter is unknown; however, maps from the time show a street named Old Mint Lane near Friernhay, which was to be the site of a 1696 Recoinage mint. Much less
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