Horndon mint facts for kids

The Horndon mint was a special place where coins were made a long, long time ago, during the Anglo-Saxon period in England. It was located in a village called Horndon-on-the-Hill in Thurrock, Essex. We know about this mint from just one single coin that was made during the time of Edward the Confessor, who was King of England from 1042 to 1066.

Discovering the Horndon Coin

The only coin we have from the Horndon mint was found many years ago in the 1700s. It was part of a big collection of old coins discovered in a basement near a church called St Mary-at-Hill in London, England.

This special coin is known as the "sovereign/martlet type." This means it has a picture of the king's head on one side and a small bird called a martlet on the other. It was made sometime between the years 1056 and 1059.

On the back of the coin, you can read the words Dudinc on Hornidune. This tells us two important things:

• Dudinc was the name of the person who made the coin.
• Hornidune is the very old name for Horndon. This name also appears in the Domesday Book from 1086, which was a huge survey of England ordered by William the Conqueror.

Who Was Dudinc the Moneyer?

The person named Dudinc, who made the coin in Horndon, seems to be the same person who also made coins in London. He worked for both Harold Harefoot and Edward the Confessor, who were kings before and after Edward. It's very likely that it was the same skilled craftsman making coins in both places.

Why Were Mints Important?

From the time of King Edgar onwards, many mints were set up across England. This was because new coins were always needed. Old coins were regularly taken out of circulation and replaced with new ones.

This process was important for a few reasons:

• It helped control the economy and stop money from losing its value too quickly.
• It also provided a way for the king to earn money, as people had to pay a fee to get new coins.

Horndon: A Special Village?

Historians believe that having a mint in a place like Horndon was a big deal. A famous historian named Frank Stenton said that it meant Horndon was seen as an important town, almost like a "borough." Other historians, Aston and Bond, also agreed that Horndon was an Anglo-Saxon town because it had its own mint.

However, Horndon was generally considered a very ordinary village at the time. So, why was a mint placed there? One idea is that the area around Horndon was strongly influenced by a powerful local family, Robert FitzWimarc and his son Swein of Essex. They might have been important enough to have a mint in their area.