Forms: 5–7 stannarie, 6 stanery, steinery, steynery, 7 stannery, (stanary), 7– stannary. See also STANNIER. [ad. med.L. stannāria (1198 in G. R. Lewis, Stannaries, App. 233), f. L. stann-um tin: see -ARY. An AF. form estei(g)nerie (whence some of the forms above) occurs 1328 in Rolls of Parlt., II. 19.]
1. The Stannaries: The districts comprising the tin mines and smelting works of Cornwall and Devon formerly under the jurisdiction of the Stannary courts; also, the customs and privileges attached to the mines.
1455. Rolls of Parlt., V. 293/2. Delyvered to the said Prynce … the said Duchie of Cornewayll, and all … Cunage of Tynne, Stannaries, Marlsettes, [etc.]. Ibid. (1485), VI. 382/1. The Office of Wardeyn of the Stannaries in the said Countie of Devynshire.
c. 1630. Risdon, Surv. Devon, § 91 (1810), 88. Steward of the Stanneries.
1670. Pettus, Fodinæ Reg., 12. The King for advancement of the Stannaries in Cornwall frees the Tinners from all pleas of the Natives touching the Court.
1776. Adam Smith, W. N., I. I. xi. 180. Vice-Warden of the Stannaries.
1869. Blackmore, Lorna D., xx. He came as captain of a gang from one of the Cornish stannaries.
1908. J. Martineau, Life H. Pelham, x. 330. In February, 1862, the office of Lord Warden of the Stannaries was conferred upon him.
b. sing. (a) collect. = pl.; (b) rarely, an individual district in the Stannaries.
1467–8. Rolls of Parlt., V. 610. Th’office of Baillif of oure Stannarie of Penwith and Kerye.
1514. Fitzherb., Justice of Peace (1538), 140 b. Yf any person be indyted … in hys tyn workes goodes or cattels by any minister of the court of Stanery.
1564. T. Harding, Answ. Jewel’s Challenge, xiii. 139. They may not vnfittely be likened to a Judge of the Stemerie [? read Steinerie] at Lidford in Deuonshire, who [etc.].
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. xvi. § 95. The title of Duke of Cornwall … is reputed vnto the Kings eldest sonne … he … hauing his royalties in the Stannarie, Wrackes at Sea, Customes &c.
2. Tin; tin-ware; a locality in a mart or fair appropriated to the sale of tin-ware. Obs. exc. Hist.
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., II. iii. 65. Tinn, Stannery.
1864. Times, 16 Sept., 8/4. The fair formed a kind of temporary city, entirely mercantile, consisting of whole streets appropriate to the sale of particular commodities, and distinguished by their several names as the drapery, the pottery, the spicery, the stannary, &c. Ibid. In the reign of Henry VI. this celebrated mart appeared to be on the decline, the lands appropriated to those who brought articles of stannary from Cornwall not being fully occupied.
3. attrib., as stannary artillery, castle, cause, charter, district, law, man, parliament, town, troop, weight.
1812. Examiner, 7 Sept., 570/1. Lieut. Moyle, of the Royal *Stannary Artillery.
1810. Risdon’s Surv. Devon, 405. The *Stannary Castle, containing the room where the courts were held,… is at Lydford.
1602. Carew, Cornwall, I. 18. The Gayle for *stannery causes is kept at Lostwithiel.
1856. J. Allen, Hist. Liskeard, iii. 32. Most of the old *stannary charters were destroyed in the revolutionary war.
1758. Borlase, Nat. Hist. Cornw., 193. The four principal towns of the *stannary districts.
1899. Baring-Gould, Bk. West, II. v. 59. The Danish freebooters … carried fire and sword through the stannary districts of Devon.
1633. T. Adams, Exp. 2 Pet. ii. 3. 470. That old scandall of the *Stanneries Law; that hanged a man in the forenoone, and sate in judgement on him in the afternoone.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., II. 103. Those tin-works are under … the stannary laws.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 196. The *Stannarie men of Cornwall and Denshire.
1877. Encycl. Brit., VI. 426/1. The last Cornish *stannary parliament was held at Truro in 1752.
1705. Addr. Lostwithiel, in Lond. Gaz., No. 4087/1. We are Members of Your Majesty’s Ancient and Chiefest *Stannary Town.
1690. Lond. Gaz., No. 2579/3. The Lord Lansdowne … came hither on the 25th with the *Stanary Troop. Ibid. (1703), No. 3951/1. Her Majesty is … pleased to offer … to take Sixteen hundred Tuns of Tinn at the Price of Three Pounds Ten Shillings per Cent. *Stannary Weight.
b. Stannary courts: The courts of law for the administration of justice in the Stannaries.
Stannaria curia occurs 1337 in a charter of Edward III.: see Du Cange. By the Stannaries Courts Abolition Act of 1896 the jurisdiction of these courts was transferred to the County Court.
1602. Carew, Cornwall, I. 18. They are termed Stannery Courts, of the latine word Stannum, in English Tynne.
1641. (title) An Act against diverse Incroachments and Oppressions in the Stannarie Courts.
1768. Blackstone, Comm., III. vi. 80. The stannary courts in Devonshire and Cornwall for the administration of justice among the tinners therein, are also courts of record.
1877. Encycl. Brit., VI. 426/1. By ancient charters, the tinners of Cornwall were exempt from all other jurisdiction than that of the stannary courts, except in cases affecting land, life, and limb.
