Poor man's checks

We were in the museum in Saffron Walden today, where they had what I thought was a brilliant idea - inviting local collectors to lend their collections to the museum. There was quite an eclectic mix of objects, including these "poor man's checks". They look like small coins, with pictures and symbols, but they are not actual currency and no-one knows exactly what they were for or who made them (although it is thought they originated in the north of England in the latter part of the 19th century). 

We are actually down here in search of ancient turf mazes. We saw one yesterday (at Wing in Rutland) and another two today. The extra pictures are of the maze in Saffron Walden (or rather a part of it; you'd need a helicopter to picture it all) and the maze at Hilton in Cambridgeshire.