Just had a quick look on the Royal Mint website (to see if the new coin designs were on the site yet) and came across this article

http://www.royalmint.com/MuseumArticles/EricGill.aspx

What do people think of these? I rather like them, if only because they are different and rather unique

Entirely too plain for actual coinage.

I actually quite like it. The geometry and such - imagine if people wanted one pence. I swear they would cut them up

Especially in the days of Tudors & Stuarts

By the time of the Tudors and Stuarts they were then making smaller denomination coins, so they reverted to cutting up people, ie drawing and quartering and piking. Maybe it relieves the inner aggressions more than cutting coins.