Token issued by Great Yarmouth businesswoman in 17th Century found

A rare trading token issued by a 17th Century businesswoman has been found by a metal detectorist.

Rebecca Murril took over her husband's bakery business in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, following his early death.

Coin expert Adrian Marsden said: "With two very young children, she did not shrink from going into trade in what was very much a man's world."

The trading token was found at Filby, near Great Yarmouth, and has been donated to Norwich Castle Museum.

The token was found by Graham Gislam during a metal detecting rally on 30 December and Dr Marsden unearthed Mrs Murril's story as part of the Norfolk Token Project.

"We are left with the impression of a clear-headed young woman who did not lack for courage," Dr Marsden said.

He discovered she was married to Joseph Murril, who completed his bakery apprenticeship in 1647.

Baptism records reveal the couple had four children, two of whom died by 1653, about the time Mr Murril died.

His widow, "with a husband and two children not long dead and buried", took over the bakery business, and issued trading token in her own name between 1653 and 1655.

These were essential to the smooth running of businesses in the mid-17th Century during a shortage of officially-issued coins.

Merchants issued the coinage for local use, commissioning them from the Tower of London mint where the country's official coins were minted.

Mrs Murril was the only woman in Great Yarmouth to issue a token under her own name out of 43 businesses.

They carry the Bakers' Arms and her name on one side, with Great Yarmouth and her initials on the other.

The next time she appeared in the records she had remarried fellow baker William Bretting in 1655, who issued a trading token with both their initials.

Dr Marsden said: "There are quite a few bakers in Yarmouth, and I suspect they are not baking bread but biscuit as it is on the menu for sailors."

Mrs Bretting outlived her second husband too "and we might presume that once again she continued to run the business she had inherited".

Mr Gislam, from Martham, said he had no idea how rare his find was until Dr Marsden got in touch.

"If I kept it, I'd just put it out of the way and never see it again so by donating it other people can see it," he said.

Follow East of England news on Facebook, Instagram and X. Got a story? Email [email protected] or WhatsApp 0800 169 183