The name only appeared in print during the late 19th century, likely invented by someone eager to connect the building to Carlingford’s 1467 licence to mint coins. No evidence exists of any coinage actually being produced in the town, and the building itself lacks any features you’d expect to find in a working mint. What stands before visitors today is actually a 16th century merchant’s residence, built during Carlingford’s prosperous trading years.

The three-storey limestone and greywacke structure showcases the wealth and status of its original owners through remarkable architectural details. The eastern wall, facing Tholsel Street, features three ground-floor windows with distinctive ogee-headed arches, decorated with intricate interlace patterns, a horse, and even a man’s bust carved into the stone panels. The windows throughout the building display elaborate punch-marks forming geometric patterns; lozenges and wheel designs that would have caught the eye of any passing trader. A particularly defensive feature sits directly above the main entrance: a wide machicolation supported by sandstone corbels, which allowed defenders to drop unpleasant surprises on unwelcome visitors below.

The interior reveals the comforts expected in a wealthy merchant’s home, including a first-floor garderobe complete with a semi-circular recess and seating, accessed through a short mural passage. The building’s defensive capabilities extend to the roof, where a well-preserved wall-walk features stepped crenellations and small openings in the parapets, likely designed for muskets rather than pistols given their height. Evidence on the south wall shows that an earlier, lower building once stood here, suggesting the site has been continuously occupied and developed over centuries. Now protected as National Monument No. 424, this tower house stands as one of the finest examples of merchant architecture from Carlingford’s golden age of trade.