Wilton is situated at a strategic point on the river systems of southern Wiltshire, and was an obvious choice as a place of settlement by migrants from the south, who about the middle of the 6th century founded the kingdom of Wessex. By the 9th century Wilton had become the royal seat of the kingdom.  Of the six mints of Wiltshire, the earliest known coins were minted at Wilton and Malmesbury; these were the small cross coins of Edgar; moreover the Wilton mint remained in operation with only short periods of inactivity, longer than any other mint in Wiltshire, and it was not finally closed until 1250.

 
For Henry III pennies it is the sixth scarcest mint with just over 400 Wilton coins in total being recorded from the Brussels and Colchester hoards.  Coins from the Brussels hoard range from class 3ab1 to class 3c; the 3ab1 coins being the scarcest. Moneyers at Wilton were Hugo Goldrum, John Berte, William son of Randulf and William Manger. There is no known way to differentiate the coins of the two Williams.