Wenford Dries

Wenford Dries is an early 20th-century china clay processing complex built by the Stannon China Clay Company, probably after 1907. It is located at Poley's Bridge in the valley of the River Camel and represents a significant example of industrial architecture specific to Cornwall and West Devon.

The listed buildings comprise three conjoined dries forming a substantial series of structures composed of dressed granite, granite rubble, concrete blocks of various sizes and brick. The buildings are terraced into a west-facing slope across two levels. Wooden trussed roofs of considerable scale cover the dries and are sheathed in asbestos sheeting. The lower terrace houses a linhay for storing clay prior to removal by wagon. The upper terrace carries three separate pan kilns where the clay was dried. Each dry has an associated furnace and cylindrical chimney.

Beyond the dries to the east, separated by the eastern wall, stands a series of mainly rubble-built settling tanks with concrete floors. These tanks originally received liquid china clay delivered by pipeline from the extraction pit at Stannon on Bodmin Moor, some 7.2 kilometres north-east. A levelled terrace to the east of the buildings once supported railway tracks used to transport finished clay from the dries.

The pan kilns survive in good condition, though the upper kiln floor has been damaged in places, exposing the lower flues. The original sluice openings from the settling tanks to the pan kilns have been blocked in some instances and replaced with iron pipes fitted with control valves. The buildings show considerable evidence of alterations and additions reflecting the continuous evolution of china clay drying technology and processing refinements.

The dries operated until 2002, with a brief closure during the Second World War. The Stannon China Clay Company built the works, and the complex was acquired by English China Clays in 1919. The site was chosen partly because an existing railway line running from Wenfordbridge, originally constructed to carry granite from the nearby De Lank quarries, was already in place. A large private siding was built to connect the dries to the railway network.

The southern part of the building has undergone drastic alteration and is not considered to possess special interest. The three northern dries are regarded as the buildings of clear importance, valued for their scale, configuration, technological interest and regional significance as an unusual example of conjoined dries.