A stannary town is, historically, the administrative centre of a tin-mining district, from where the sale and export of the mined tin was arranged.

There are many such towns in the traditional tin-mining regions of Devon and Cornwall in the South West of England, although, as the market for tin has declined considerably over the past century, very few of them still serve this purpose.

Traditionally, stannary towns had the right to representation in Devon and Cornwall's Stannary Parliaments.