Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Relating to tin, tin-mines, or the working of tin: as, “stannary courts,”
- noun A region or district in which tin is mined: the English form of the Latin stannaria (or stammaria, as written in a charter of the third year of King John, 1201). The miners themselves were called
stannatores or (rarely) stammatores.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of or pertaining to tin mines, or tin works.
- noun A tin mine; tin works.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Of or pertaining to
tin mining , especially inCornwall . - noun A
tin mine or tinworks .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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John Germon was born and raised in the Devon stannary town of Ashburton.
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It was an active centre of mining, and became a stannary or coinage town.
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It is said that the last parliament was held on this tor in 1749, but for some time before that date the court merely met on the tor, and, after the jurors had been sworn in, adjourned to one of the stannary towns.
Devon, Its Moorlands, Streams and Coasts Rosalind Northcote
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In Browne's day it was used as the stannary prison, and was denounced in an Act of Parliament as
Devon, Its Moorlands, Streams and Coasts Rosalind Northcote
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The summit is piled with granite, and out of the rock was hewn 'a warden's or president's chair, seats for the jurors, and a high corner stone for the crier of the court, and a table, 'says Polwhele; and here the' hardy mountain council '-- twenty-four burgesses from each of the stannary towns -- assembled.
Devon, Its Moorlands, Streams and Coasts Rosalind Northcote
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In the Forest of Dartmoor, Devonshire, between Tavistock and Chegford, is a high hill, called Crocken Tor, where the tinners of this county are obliged by their charter to assemble their parliaments, or the jurats who are commonly gentlemen within the jurisdiction, chosen from the four stannary courts of coinage in this county, of which the lord-warden is judge.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 14, No. 385, August 15, 1829 Various
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Ashburton is one of the old stannary towns, and besides mining, it was known for its trade in woollen goods, especially serges.
Devon, Its Moorlands, Streams and Coasts Rosalind Northcote
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The jurats being met to the number sometimes of two or three hundred, in this desolate place, are quite exposed to the weather and have no other place to sit upon but a moor-stone bench, and no refreshments but what they bring with them; for this reason the steward immediately adjourns the court to Tavistock, or some other stannary town.
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 14, No. 385, August 15, 1829 Various
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Henceforward the Devonshire miners were separated from the Cornish, and held stannary parliaments on the top of Crockern Tor.
Devon, Its Moorlands, Streams and Coasts Rosalind Northcote
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The primitive features of this secluded district are perhaps best represented by the interesting little town of Chagford, situated in the valley of the North Teign, an ancient stannary and market town backed by a wide stretch of moor.
The Life of Thomas Telford Smiles, Samuel, 1812-1904 1867
knitandpurl commented on the word stannary
"Elizabeth, heavily pregnant and desperate, was there waiting while her husband and sons tried to find work in the area, having been turned away from the Tavistock stannary."
PopCo by Scarlett Thomas, p 172 of the Harcourt paperback edition
December 1, 2013