| Lostwithiel Stannary Palace | |
|---|---|
 Lostwithiel Stannary Palace | |
| Location | Hightown, Sandbach |
| Coordinates | 50°24′24″N4°40′07″W / 50.4067°N 4.6685°W |
| Built | c.1280 |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
| Official name | Freemasons' Hall |
| Designated | 18 October 1949 |
| Reference no. | 1327326 |
  Shown in Cornwall | |
The Stannary Palace, also known as the Duchy Palace, was a complex of buildings operated by the Dukes of Cornwall as the centre of their administration. The surviving exchequer hall is a Grade I listed building. [1]
This building was part of a very large complex, covering more than 2 acres (8,100 m2), built by Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall in around 1280 during the reign of King Edward I. [1] In the 14th century, the complex, which included a great hall, an exchequer hall, a coinage hall and a smelting house, was used by the Edward the Black Prince, then the Duke of Cornwall, as his exchequer headquarters. [2] When the Black Prince paid his first visit to Lostwithiel and Restormel Castle in 1353, he installed the Prince of Wales' plume of feathers on the apex of the exchequer hall roof where they remain. [1]
In 1495, King Henry VII directed that "the standard weights for Cornwall to be kept at Lostwithiel". [3]
The Cornish stannaries were suspended as a consequence of the Cornish rebellion of 1497. [4] Henry VII restored the stannaries in return for a payment from the tin miners of the, at the time, enormous sum of £1,000, to support his war on Scotland. In addition to restoring the stannaries and pardoning the people who participated in the rebellion, Henry's Charter of Pardon of 1508 provided that no new laws affecting miners should be enacted without the consent of twenty-four stannators, six being chosen from each of the four stannaries at Lostwithiel, Launceston, Truro and Helston. [5]
In 1533, John Leland stated that "in Lostwithiel is the Shire Hall for Cornwall and it is the Shire town for Cornwall." [6]
In August 1644, the English Civil War was at its height and the town of Lostwithiel was taken by Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex who made it his headquarters. During the battle of Lostwithiel the town, including the great hall, was badly damaged. [7] After the great hall fell into a state of decay, the surviving exchequer hall became the main meeting place for the stannators i.e. leaders of the tin making industry. [1]
After the last tinners' parliament was held in the town in 1751, [8] [9] the building slowly fell into decay and was sold to the local freemasons lodge in 1878. [1] The complex was used as a masonic hall for 120 years until it was purchased by the Prince's Regeneration Trust in late 2008. The trust carried out extensive repairs, in partnership with the Cornwall Buildings Preservation Trust, which now manages the building. [10] Following refurbishment by contractors Carrek, to a design by Purcell, Miller Tritton, the building was re-opened by the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall on 17 July 2013. [11]
The Battle of Lostwithiel took place over a 13-day period from 21 August to 2 September 1644, around the town of Lostwithiel and along the River Fowey valley in Cornwall during the First English Civil War. A Royalist army led by Charles I of England defeated a Parliamentarian force commanded by the Earl of Essex.
Liskeard is an ancient stannary and market town in south-east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately 20 miles (32 km) west of Plymouth, 14 miles (23 km) west of the Devon border, and 12 miles (20 km) east of Bodmin. The Bodmin Moor lies to the north-west of the town. The total population of the town at the 2011 census was 11,366
Lostwithiel is a civil parish and small town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom at the head of the estuary of the River Fowey. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,739, increasing to 2,899 at the 2011 census. The Lostwithiel electoral ward had a population of 4,639 at the 2011 census. The name Lostwithiel comes from the Cornish "lostwydhyel" which means "tail of a wooded area".
The Duchy of Cornwall is one of two royal duchies in England, the other being the Duchy of Lancaster. The eldest son of the reigning British monarch obtains possession of the duchy and the title of Duke of Cornwall at birth or when his parent succeeds to the throne, but may not sell assets for personal benefit and has limited rights and income while a minor.
Stannary law is the body of English law that governs tin mining in Cornwall and Devon; although no longer of much practical relevance, the stannary law remains part of the law of the United Kingdom and is arguably the oldest law incorporated into the English legal system.
The Cornish rebellion of 1497, also known as the First Cornish rebellion, was a popular uprising in the Kingdom of England, which began in Cornwall and culminated with the Battle of Deptford Bridge near London on 17 June 1497.
The constitutional status of Cornwall has been a matter of debate and dispute. Cornwall is an administrative county of England.
Restormel Castle lies by the River Fowey near Lostwithiel in Cornwall, England, UK. It is one of the four chief Norman castles of Cornwall, the others being Launceston, Tintagel and Trematon. The castle is notable for its perfectly circular design. Once a luxurious residence of the Earl of Cornwall, the castle was all but ruined by the 16th century. It was briefly reoccupied and fought over during the English Civil War, but was subsequently abandoned. It is now in the care of English Heritage and open to the public.
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, the duty was passed to the Duchy of Cornwall; in Devon to the Crown.
The Cornish Stannary Parliament was the representative body of the Cornish stannaries, which were chartered in 1201 by King John. In spite of the name, the Parliament was not a Cornish national assembly, instead representing the interests of the tin industry; however, due to the significant proportion of Cornwall's population involved in the tin trade, it wielded considerable power.
In Devon and Cornwall, tin coinage was a tax on refined tin, payable to the Duchy of Cornwall and administered in the Stannary Towns. The oldest surviving records of coinage show that it was collected in 1156. It was abolished by the Tin Duties Act 1838.
Mining in Cornwall and Devon, in the southwest of Britain, is thought to have begun in the early-middle Bronze Age with the exploitation of cassiterite. Tin, and later copper, were the most commonly extracted metals. Some tin mining continued long after the mining of other metals had become unprofitable, but ended in the late 20th century. In 2021, it was announced that a new mine was extracting battery-grade lithium carbonate, more than 20 years after the closure of the last South Crofty tin mine in Cornwall in 1998.
The Revived Cornish Stannary Parliament, was a pressure group which claimed to be a revival of the historic Cornish Stannary Parliament last held in 1753. It was established in 1974 and campaigned, up until 2008, against the government of the United Kingdom's position on the constitutional status of Cornwall.
The Cornish rotten and pocket boroughs were one of the most striking anomalies of the Unreformed House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom before the Reform Act of 1832. Immediately before the Act, Cornwall had twenty boroughs, each electing two members of parliament, as well as its two knights of the shire, a total of 42 members, far in excess of the number to which its wealth, population or other importance would seem to entitle it. Until 1821, there was yet another borough which sent two men to parliament, giving Cornwall only one fewer member in the House of Commons than the whole of Scotland.
This timeline summarizes significant events in the History of Cornwall
Cornwall played a significant role in the English Civil War, being a Royalist enclave in the generally Parliamentarian south-west.
Cornish devolution is the movement to increase the governing powers of the County of Cornwall.
This is a list of charters promulgated by kings of England that specifically relate to Cornwall, which was incorporated into the Kingdom of England late in the Anglo-Saxon period. In the 9th and 10th centuries, the kings of Wessex became the rulers of Cornwall, and after a period of independence during the wars with the Danes, this rule by the kings of England became permanent. The charters below relate either to the tin mines of Cornwall and Devon or to the Earldom or Duchy of Cornwall. The stannary charters are dated between 1201 and 1508, the others between 1231 and 1338.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Cornwall: Cornwall – ceremonial county and unitary authority area of England within the United Kingdom. Cornwall is a peninsula bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall is also a royal duchy of the United Kingdom. It has an estimated population of half a million and it has its own distinctive history and culture.
Presented below is an alphabetical index of articles related to Cornwall:
| Unitary authorities | |
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| Major settlements (cities in italics) |
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| Rivers | |
| Topics | |
