Stannary

John Germon was born and raised in the Devon stannary town of Ashburton. ❋ Unknown (2005)

It was an active centre of mining, and became a stannary or coinage town. ❋ Unknown (N/A)

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. ❋ Various (N/A)

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. ❋ Various (N/A)

In Browne's day it was used as the stannary prison, and was denounced in an Act of Parliament as ❋ Rosalind Northcote (N/A)

Ashburton is one of the old stannary towns, and besides mining, it was known for its trade in woollen goods, especially serges. ❋ Rosalind Northcote (N/A)

Henceforward the Devonshire miners were separated from the Cornish, and held stannary parliaments on the top of Crockern Tor. ❋ Rosalind Northcote (N/A)

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. ❋ Rosalind Northcote (N/A)

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. ❋ Rosalind Northcote (N/A)

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. ❋ Smiles, Samuel, 1812-1904 (1867)

**] The stannary courts, which exercised jurisdiction over the miners, being liable to a like objection, underwent a like fate. ❋ David Hume (1743)