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 the ore cassiterite mined in the region.
In Cornwall, however, they retained certain historic rights to appoint stannators to the Cornish Stannary Parliament.
The Cornish coinage towns included at various times: Penzance, Truro, Helston, St Austell, Bodmin (probably), Liskeard and Lostwithiel.
[2] The Devon stannary towns are all on the fringes of Dartmoor, which is the granite upland which bore the tin.
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.