 The importation of current continental issues – mainly in gold – continued over the 6th century, with considerable numbers of Merovingian "tremisses" circulating in southern and eastern England even by the end of the 6th century.It was on the basis of these coins that the first native English production of coins took place in the early 7th century.The earliest known English coins are gold pieces, modelled on contemporary Merovingian Frankish coinage, and consisting largely of "tremisses"