The Horndon mint was an

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

mint MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaA ...

established at

Horndon-on-the-Hill Horndon on the Hill is a village, former civil parish and Church of England parish in the unitary authority of Thurrock, in the county of Essex, England. It is located close to the A13, around one mile northwest of Stanford-le-Hope and around tw ...

Thurrock Thurrock () is a unitary authority area with borough status and unparished area in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is part of the London commuter belt and an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The l ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. It is known from a single coin of the reign of

Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ; la, Eduardus Confessor , ; ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was one of the last Anglo-Saxon English kings. Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 to 1066. Edward was the son of Æth ...

. The only surviving example of a coin from the Horndon mint was among the hoard of coins found in the 18th century in a basement near St Mary Hill church, in the ward of

Billingsgate Billingsgate is one of the 25 Wards of the City of London. This small City Ward is situated on the north bank of the River Thames between London Bridge and Tower Bridge in the south-east of the Square Mile. The modern Ward extends south to the ...

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

. The coin is described as being of the sovereign/martlet type, with the head of the sovereign and a

martlet A martlet in English heraldry is a mythical bird without feet that never roosts from the moment of its drop-birth until its death fall; martlets are proposed to be continuously on the wing. It is a compelling allegory for continuous effort, expre ...

mint mark A mint mark is a letter, symbol or an inscription on a coin indicating the mint where the coin was produced. It should not be confused with a mintmaster mark which is the mark of the mintmaster. History Mint marks were first developed to locate ...

; it was minted between 1056 and 1059. It bears the inscription ''Dudinc on Hornidune'' on the reverse. Hornidune is the earliest recorded form of Horndon, which appears in

Domesday Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

as Horniduna. The moneyer, Dudinc, has the same name as someone striking coins in London for

Harold Harefoot Harold I (died 17 March 1040), also known as Harold Harefoot, was King of the English from 1035 to 1040. Harold's nickname "Harefoot" is first recorded as "Harefoh" or "Harefah" in the twelfth century in the history of Ely Abbey, and according ...

and Edward the Confessor. There is an "almost inescapable" conclusion that they were the same man. From the reign of King Edgar onwards many mints were established to meet the need for new coins when the older ones were withdrawn. This happened regularly, partly to counteract inflation, but also to provide income to the king. The existence of a mint at Horndon is described by

Frank Stenton Sir Frank Merry Stenton, FBA (17 May 1880 – 15 September 1967) was an English historian of Anglo-Saxon England, and president of the Royal Historical Society (1937–1945). The son of Henry Stenton of Southwell, Nottinghamshire, he was edu ...

as signifying "a claim to be regarded as a borough" and Horndon was noted as an Anglo-Saxon town by Aston and Bond{{cite book , first1=Mick , first2=James , last1=Aston , last2=Bond , year=2000 , title=The Landscape of Towns , publisher=Sutton Publishing , page=59 based on possession of a mint. A number of small mints were established during the reign of Edward the Confessor, but the choice of Horndon which was an "undistinguished village" is not obvious. Sydney suggests that the solution may be that the manor of Horndon was under the influence of

Robert FitzWimarc Robert fitz Wimarc (died before 1075, Theydon Mount, Ongar, Essex) was a kinsman of both Edward the Confessor and William of Normandy, and was present at Edward's death bed. Nothing of his background is known except his kinship to the English ...

and his son Swein of Essex, a powerful and ambitious local family.

Notes

History of Thurrock Mints (currency) Mints of Europe 1050s in England Coins of England