The history of coinage is varied. Each of the separate countries of Wales, England and Scotland they each used their own form of currency, at first, although English money was used around each countries borders.

The first coin to go into general use in England was the penny. It was introduced by King Offa of Mercia. The Anglo Saxon silver pennies were used to pay the Danegeld. This was a sort of protection money to stop the Vikings from raiding the country. At times there were more silver pennies found in Denmark than in England. 240 of these pennies weighed 1 pound. Hence 240 pennies in 1 pound sterling.

These silver pennies had a major drawback. They were too soft and kept wearing away. In the 12^th Century a standard was set for the coins by Henry II and a hard alloy was added to the silver.

The coinage reform act of 1816 set up a weight/value ratio and the sizes of the coins were standardised. The amount of silver gradually diminished until 1947 when it was eliminated altogether.

As Scotland was largely unpopulated after the Romans left it was not until the reign of David 1124AD-1153AD that the first Scottish coins were minted. Since 1603 England and Scotland has been united by the marriage of their kings 2 children. Despite this Scotland has kept its own coinage although both them and England use both sets of notes especially in the border regions.

The Welsh simply reverted to bartering using cattle and sword blades when the Romans left. They also used English currency along the borders. Hywel was the first to establish a welsh coinage in 942. This coinage continued, with a few variations, until the invasion of Edward I of England in 1283.

Money was first minted in England in the Tower of London and then in premises on Tower Hill. The modern mint is now in Llantrisant in Wales.

Decimalisation was introduced in 1971 and the pound changed from being 240 pennies to 100 pennies. This certainly made things easier to calculate.

There is one anomaly. Horses are still sold in guineas which are equivalent to 1 pound and 1 shilling. A shilling is equal to twelve old pennies. Just a little note. Pre decimal pennies are still used to adjust the timing of the pendulum in the clock, Big Ben, in the palace of Westminster.