NICHOLAS BRIOT. 
2 7 
the difficulty of distinguishing the testoons of 2jd. from those of 
4|d., a further proclamation was made on October gth, in which 
those of 4^d were to be marked with a portcullis before the face of 
the King, and those of 2^d with the print of a greyhound behind 
the head of the King. Twenty-four stamping irons with the 
device of the portcullis, and twelve with the greyhound, were 
transmitted to York with directions to use them according to the 
tenor of the proclamation. York Museum possesses a coin of 
Edward VI. of very base silver, countermarked with a greyhound 
behind the head of the King. In April, 1561, the stamping irons 
were returned to the London mint with a letter signed Percival 
Craforth, Mayor of York, and his brethren aldermen of the same. 
A week later, the Lord Mayor received from the Lords of the 
Privy Council a communication from which it appears that the 
base money has not been carried into the mints so-freely as was 
expected, and that some delay had occurred in obtaining new 
money in lieu of it. 
Charles I. 
“ The York mint appears to have been established in 1629, and 
probably remained in operation till the city surrendered to the 
Parliament in 1644. The dies for the early coins were executed 
from models made by Nicholas Briot. They are therefore not of 
the nature of money of necessity such as was struck at Chester, 
Weymouth. &c." 1 The great Earl of Strafford became President 
of the North in 1629 and occupied the Manor Blouse; in the 
courtyard over the doorway is sculptured his coat of arms. In 
1633, King Charles stayed a few days at the Manor. In 1639, the 
King arrived in York on March 30th and resided at the Manor 
Blouse, where his arms, with the initials C.R., are sculptured over 
the Jacobean entrance. The King left York on April 26th on his 
ill-starred expedition to Scotland. Charles I. was again in York in 
1640. The following year the Council of the North was abolished 
and Strafford beheaded. 
The Manor House was outside the city walls, but the mint for 
security was situated within the walls, and on land belonging to 
Sir William Saville, a sally-port forming the means of communica¬ 
tion between the Manor House and the mint. 
1 B.M. Handbook of Coins, Great Britain and Ireland,” by 
Herbert A. Grueber, 1899, p. 121. 
