Led by "King" David Hartley, the Coiners obtained real coins from publicans, sometimes on the promise that they could "grow" the investment by smelting the original metals with base ores.

In 1769, William Dighton (or Deighton), a public official, investigated the possibilities of a counterfeiting gang in Cragg Vale.

On 10 November 1769, two farm hands employed by the Coiners, Matthew Normanton and Robert Thomas, ambushed Dighton in Halifax and shot him dead in Bull Close Lane.

David Hartley was hanged at 'York Tyburn' near York on 28 April 1770, and buried in the village of Heptonstall, West Riding of Yorkshire.

During a 2016 episode of the BBC's Last Tango in Halifax, the story was part of an evening dinner conversation at Caroline McKenzie-Dawson's (played by Sarah Lancashire) new house.

One of the characters (Harry played by Paul Copley) retold the story of the Cragg Vale Coiners and mentioned that Matthew Turnton was known to haunt the house.

The story of David Hartley and the Coiners is the subject of a researched novel entitled The Gallows Pole by author Ben Myers, published in 2017.

It received a Roger Deakin award for writing concerned with "natural history, landscape and environment" and won the Walter Scott Prize 2018.