Name Index

To

The Ancient Stannary of Ashburton

Trans. Devon. Assoc. vol. 8 (1876), pp. 311-322.

by

R.N. Worth

Prepared by Michael Steer

Ashburton is one of only four Stannary Towns in Devon. Tin was mined in the area in Roman times. The Stannary Towns were important centres for the tin trade, as all rough smelted tin had to be stamped before it was taken away for use. This process of weighing and checking of quality was carried out at very few towns and Ashburton was designated a Stannary Town as early as 1285 AD. Its importance as the main Stannary Town peaked in 1515 when nearly 40% of Devon's tin was sold through Ashburton. By the early 1700s the trade had all but died out but small amounts have been mined even up to comparatively recent times. Google with the Archive Organization has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. The Internet Archive makes available, in its Community Texts Collection (originally known as Open Source Books), books that have been digitised by Google from a number of libraries. These are books on which copyright has expired, and are available free for educational and research use. This rare book was produced from a copy held by Princeton University Library, and is available from the Internet Archive.