Royal Mint - Background Carlisle
Did you know there was a Royal Mint in Carlisle in the 12th Century?
Henry I established a mint at Carlisle following his visit there in 1122. The district had been conquered, and taken into Norman England, in 1092 by Henry’s predecessor (and elder brother) William II (William Rufus), who had then created the Earldom of Carlisle, which he granted to Ranulf le Meschin. Silver for the coins to be made there was obtained from the lead mines around Alston and Nenthead.
On Henry’s death in 1135, King David I of Scotland took back control of the area. At the Treaty of Durham (1136), David gave up some of his conquests in Northern England – but held on to Carlisle – and its mint. David’s son Henry became lord of Carlisle – although he had to pay homage to King Stephen as his overlord. Over subsequent years, the Carlisle mint issued both English and Scottish coins (England at the time was tied up with the civil wars of Stephen and Matilda, 1139-1154). In 1157 Henry II took Carlisle fully back into England in 1157 – and the Carlisle mint played its part in Henry’s ‘recoinage’ of 1158 (replacing the many unofficial coins which had been issued during the anarchy years of the civil war).
Carlisle continued to produce coins through the reigns of Henry II and Richard I – but it seems that by then the silver supply was drying up, and the mint closed. It reopened briefly in 1205, in the reign of John, then remained closed until 1248. It closed for the last time in 1250.
Click here for a paper on the Carlisle Mint
https://www.britnumsoc.org/publications/Digital%20BNJ/pdfs/2013_BNJ_83_6.pdf
More is to be found here
https://www.noonans.co.uk/auctions/archive/special-collections/896/foreword/
Text and photo by Bill Shannon
