"Enniskillen Token"

Seventeenth Century

Warnock, James

[Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh]

Width: 02cm
Thickness: 01cm

Six Enniskillen tradesmen and merchants – Abraham Clements, William Cooper, James Reid, David Rynd, John Rynd and James Wornock - issued their own copper penny tokens in the second half of the 17th century. Normally only the monarch had power to grant licences to mint coins but during the Cromwellian regime, following the execution of Charles I in 1649, no coins were minted for Ireland and low denomination coins became very scarce. Throughout Ireland and England, traders and merchants disregarded sovereign prerogative and minted their own trading tokens. The practice came to an end in 1680: King Charles II forbade anyone from issuing tokens without a royal licence. The symbols used on Enniskillen tokens are typical of Irish tokens in providing little or no information about the occupations of the issuers. The ducks, fish and bird of prey on the Wornock coin may have been selected as appropriate symbols for the lakeside location of Enniskillen. The name Warnock can be found in the list of Enniskillen residents shown on a map of the town surveyed by Farrell Mulvihill in 1772. James Warnock’s merchant business evidently thrived after 1663, judging from his tax record, which doubled from 10 shillings in 1663 to £1 (20 shillings) in 1665 and 1666. (Monument Fellowship Information)

FCM_1984_005