Mining setts were a legal arrangement used historically in the counties of Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

 and Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is 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 has a population of , and covers an area of...

 in South West England to manage the exploitation of land for the extraction of tin

Tin

Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...

.

They were a form of licence by the holder of a set of tin bounds

Tin bounds

Tin bounds were an ancient legal arrangement used in the counties of Devon and Cornwall in South West England to encourage the exploitation of land for the extraction of tin....

 (or bounder) to allow a miner or group of miners (known as adventurers) to work the ground within the bounds for tin. Setts were usually granted subject to conditions, such as the requirement to actually work the ground and were also often limited to a specified depth of ground.

In return for the grant of a sett, the adventurers were required to pay a portion of the tin extracted to the bounders. This portion was known as farm tin

Farm tin

Farm tin was one of a number of payments required of tin miners in Devon and Cornwall. The holder of a mining sett was required to pay a portion of the black tin extracted to the holder of the tin bounds in which the sett was granted. The portion was the "farm tin".In addition to farm tin, miners...

. Its payment was in addition to the requirement to pay toll tin

Toll tin

Toll tin was a term historically used in tin mining in Devon and Cornwall. The holder of a set of tin bounds was required to pay the freeholder of the land on which the bounds had been pitched a portion, called toll tin, of the tin ore extracted.Toll tin became due as soon as the ore was broken...

 to the freeholder of the land and tin coinage

Tin coinage

In Devon and Cornwall, tin coinage was a tax on refined tin, payable to the Crown and administered in the Stannary Towns. The oldest surviving records of coinage show that it was collected in 1156. It was abolished in 1838....

duty on the refined tin before it could legally be sold.