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A stannary was an administrative division established under stannary law in the English counties of Cornwall and Devon to manage the collection of tin coinage, which was the duty payable on the metal tin smelted from cassiterite ore mined in the region. In Cornwall, the duty was passed to the Duchy of Cornwall; in Devon to the Crown.
With the abolition of tin coinage in 1838 (following extensive petitioning by the Cornwall tin industry for simplification of the taxation rules), the principal purpose of the stannaries ceased. In Cornwall, however, they retained certain historic rights to appoint stannators to the Cornish Stannary Parliament.
The geographical jurisdiction of each Cornish stannary was more clearly demarcated from that of the others than was the case in Devon, as each represented a separate tin-bearing area, even though the boundaries were not precisely laid down. The relative productivity of the stannaries varied greatly and was in no way related to their size.Hatcher, John (1970) Rural Economy and Society in the Duchy of Cornwall 1300–1500. Cambridge University Press .
Before sale could occur, tin had to be brought to a stannary town to be coined in buildings known as coinage halls.The towns at which tin coinage was carried out in Cornwall varied over time. The Cornish coinage towns included at various times: Penzance, Truro, Helston, St Austell, Bodmin (probably), Liskeard and Lostwithiel. Penryn twice attempted to acquire coinage town status, supported by Falmouth, but failed on both occasions due to strong opposition from the established coinage towns.
King Edward I's 1305 Stannary Charter established Tavistock, Ashburton and Chagford as Devon's stannary towns, with a monopoly on all tin mining in Devon, a right to representation in the Stannary Parliament and a right to the jurisdiction of the Stannary Courts. Plympton became the fourth Devon stannary town in 1328 after a powerful lobby persuaded the Sheriff of Devon that it was nearer the sea and therefore had better access for merchants.
The Devon stannary towns are all on the fringes of Dartmoor, which is the granite upland which bore the tin. No definition of the boundaries of the Devon stannaries is known, if indeed one ever existed.
Many stannary-related papers including registration of tin bounds, records of tin production and papers relating to disputes are to be found in the records of families with tin mining interests, although these are frequently intermingled with records on other matters so location of specific information is difficult.
The National Archives hold most of the records of central government, which includes records on stannary matters including for part of the reign of Charles 1. The House of Lords Record Office also contains relevant material, primarily relating to the special position of the stannary organisations (and tinners) with respect to the law.
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