"Enniskillen Token"

17th century

Rynd, David

[Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh]

Width: 0.16cm

Amazingly, this coin was recovered from the River Thames outside the Tower of London in 1984. 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 swan on the David Rynd token may have been selected as an appropriate symbol for the lakeside location of Enniskillen. It appears David Rynd may have come to Fermanagh from County Meath although the surname is Scottish. He became the third husband of Margaret, daughter of Christopher Irvine of Necarne Castle. He died in 1677 and was buried in Enniskillen. His son, also David, lived near Enniskillen at Derryvullan and became High Sheriff in 1681, Provost of Enniskillen in 1682 and died in 1723. The Rynds of Derryvullan House were his descendants. The family name of Rynd can be found in the list of Enniskillen residents shown on a map of the town surveyed by Farrell Mulvihill in 1772. (Monument Fellowship Information)

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