The Collaborative International Dictionary
Stannary \Stan"na*ry\ (st[a^]n"n[.a]*r[y^]), a. [L. stannum tin, an alloy of silver and lead.] Of or pertaining to tin mines, or tin works.
The stannary courts of Devonshire and Cornwall, for the
administration of justice among the tinners therein,
are also courts of record.
--Blackstone.
Stannary \Stan"na*ry\, n.; pl. Stannaries (-r[i^]z). [LL.
stannaria.]
A tin mine; tin works.
--Bp. Hall.
Wiktionary
a. Of or pertaining to tin mining, especially in Cornwall. n. A tin mine or tin works.
Wikipedia
The word stannary is historically applied to:
- A tin mine, especially in Cornwall or Devon, South West England
- A region containing tin works (mines and refineries, assay offices, etc.)
- A chartered entity comprising such a region, its works, and its workers
- The town constituting the administrative centre of such a region (a "stannary town")
- Any of the courts or parliaments established to maintain the rights of such a charter (see Stannary Courts and Parliaments—often in the plural).
The principal role of a stannary town was the collection of tin coinage, the proceeds of which were passed to the Duchy of Cornwall or the Crown. With the abolition of tin coinage in 1838 (following extensive petitioning by the Cornish tin industry for simplification of the taxation rules), the principal purpose for coinage town status ceased. However coinage towns still retained certain historic rights to appoint stannators to Cornwall's Stannary Parliament.
Usage examples of "stannary".
Lucrative as the Wardenship of the Stannaries is, Charles has not the temperament to oversee such tedious matters.
Her cousin had never discussed the Wardenship of the Stannaries with her.
The Court of Stannary was convened there, as it had been for half a millennium, by reading certain decrees of King Edward I.
Map, indicating a place equidistant from the four Stannary Towns that surround the Moor, and never suspecting that by so doing he was choosing one of the most remote and horrible places in Britain.
Swaley had entered had originally housed the old Stannary courts from where the laws governing tin-mining in the surrounding districts had been administered for centuries.
The stannary courts, which exercised jurisdiction over the miners, being liable to a like objection, underwent a like fate.
Earl of Lostwithiel, Lord Warden of the Stannaries, and Rider of the Forest and Chase of Dartmoor, to one of his two fellow-travelers.
Lord Warden of the Stannaries, I welcome you to Dartmoor, Daniel Waterhouse, on behalf of the Lord of the Manor.