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.

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 the amount of precious metal in coins significantly reduced.

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.

After Charles I tried to arrest 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).

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 was under constant threat of attack by loyalist troops.

[13] 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.

He initially produced milled silver pattern pieces of half-crowns, shillings and sixpences; however rival moneyers continued using 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.

Graham sought advice from German chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann, who in turn recommended his student George Frederick Ansell to resolve the mint's issues.

At the mint, it had been the custom to weigh silver to the nearest 0.5 troy ounces (16 g) and gold to a pennyweight (0.05 oz); however, these standards meant losses were being made from overvalued metals.

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.

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.

[27] 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.

[32][33] 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.

Under Operation Bernhard, 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.

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.

At its current site on Tower Hill, 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.

[44] 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.

Over twenty sites were considered[46] including suggestions for Scotland and Northern Ireland;[47] however, the small Welsh town of Llantrisant, ten miles (16 km) northwest of Cardiff, was eventually chosen.

Its products included a hip flask with an embedded £2 coin, an Edinburgh Crystal clock combined with a millennium Crown, and a Wedgwood plate featuring Britannia.

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".

[57] The recommendation 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.

[60] In 2015, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced a £20 billion privatisation drive to raise funds, with the Royal Mint being up for sale alongside other institutions including the Met Office and Companies House.

[63] 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.

[68] By May 2016, two years after its announcement, the attraction, designed by Rio Architects[69] and now named Royal Mint Experience, opened to the public at a final cost of £9 million.

[70] On display at the centre are more than 80,000 artefacts,[71] including Olympic medals, a pattern coin of Edward VIII, a Janvier reducing machine and a selection of trial plates.

It uses world-first patented chemistry from Canadian clean tech company Excir, extracting gold from printed circuit boards (PCBs) found in everyday electronic items such as TVs, laptops and mobile phones in minutes.

The Mint also regularly produces commemorative coins for the collectors' market, with a range of varying quality and made of different precious metals.

[87] The jury is composed of freemen of the Company of Goldsmiths, who assay the coins provided to decide whether they have been minted within the criteria determined by the relevant Coinage Acts.