Monument record MDO47799 - Mint, Dorchester

A mint operated at Dorchester throughout the Saxon period from the reign of Athelstan to that of Edward the Confessor. The last minting was of William IIs last issue, interrupted by his death in 1100. The evidence implies that Dorchester had been refounded as a defendable town or burh in the late 9th-early 10th century.

The earliest documentary evidence of a mint at Dorchester is in the reign of Aethelstan, when a moneyer is mentioned in the enactments of Grately. The last coin minted there was the final issue of William II of 1100. <1> <2> <4>

It would appear that Dorchester was refounded in the late 9th or early 10th centuries on the same lines as the known Saxo burhs, and utilising the Roman layout. The Grateley document specifies that a mint had to be within a site capable of defence, implying that Dorchester was defensible at that time. <3>

Coins were minted at Dorchester from ca.924-1062. <5>

<1> Warne, C, 1872, Ancient Dorset (2nd Edition), 303, 315-6 (Monograph). SWX1971.

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1956, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1955, 155-156 (Serial). SDO55.

<3> Wilson, David M (ed), 1976, The archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England, 131 (Monograph). SDO20505.

<4> Drewett, Peter L (ed), 1978, Archaeology in Sussex to 1500 AD, 70-71 (Monograph). SDO20506.

'The first documentary reference to the Sussex mints comes in Æthelstan’s decree issued at Grately, Hampshire (II Æthelstan: EHD, I, 381), which states that: ‘In Canterbury (there are to be) 7 moneyers, four of the Dudley: Saxon and medieval mints in Sussex 71
Fig 35 Pre- and post-Conquest mints in Sussex king, two of the bishop, one of the abbot: in Rochester 3, 2 of the king, 1 of the bishop; in London 8; in Winchester 6; in Lewes 2; in Hastings 1; another at Chichester; at Southampton 2; at Wareham 2; at Dorchester 1; at Exeter 2; at Shaftesbury 2; otherwise in the other burhs one’

<5> Hill, David, 1981, An Atlas of Anglo-Saxon England, 131 (Monograph). SWX1366.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1076230 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:41PM