Carlyon Farm China Clay Dry

China Clay Dry built between 1920 and 1921 by John Lovering under the supervision of W. Mutton junior, using previously unemployed Great War veterans. The kiln was ceremoniously fired for the first time in February 1921 by Miss Ivy Martin, a descendant of one of the founders of the china clay industry.

The china clay dry at Carlyon Farm survives as a large unroofed stone, block and brick building terraced into a steep west-facing slope in the valley formed by the St Austell River. The structure is essentially two separate kilns connected by a central furnace room, which survives as a substantial centrally placed compartment with walls towering above the remainder of the dry. The furnace room is largely open to the west, with walls mainly of rubble and concrete block quoins. It contains two separate furnaces used to heat the pan kiln floors, both retaining their original cast iron doors.

The chimneys providing updraught to draw hot air under the pan kiln floors are situated at either end of the building and differ considerably in character. The chimney stack at the northern end is square and built with concrete blocks, whilst the one at the southern end tapers towards its collared top.

The dry building stands on two terraces. The lower terrace supports the linhay in which the clay was stored prior to removal to waiting wagons. Access is provided by a series of concrete block-faced round arched openings which lead directly onto a platform immediately above the railway sidings. Each opening leads into block-faced rectangular chambers set into the floor of the linhay.

On the upper terrace are two separate pan kilns in which the clay was dried. The original air-heated floor survives throughout. The openings through the eastern wall of the pan kiln leading from adjacent settling tanks retain their original sluice gates and other fittings.

Beyond the pan kilns and separated from them by the eastern wall of the dry is a series of rubble-built settling tanks with concrete floors.

To the west of the building is a levelled terrace which originally supported the railway tracks used to transport finished clay from the dry. The choice of site was heavily influenced by the construction of the new mineral railway through the Trenance valley by the Great Western Railway in 1920. The dry was built adjacent to this new railway line with a large private siding constructed to connect to the network.

The dry remained in constant use until the 1960s when new technological advances forced its closure. In December 1984 the roof over the kiln, furnace and linhay was removed, and since this time the site has been neglected and increasingly overgrown with dense vegetation.