Clay Cellars Studio

KINGSTEIGNTON

1515/5/146 POTTERY ROAD 28-APR-87 KINGSTEIGNTON CLAY CELLARS STUDIO (Formerly listed as: NEWTON ROAD KINGSTEIGNTON RANGE OF CELLARS SOUTH OF THE CLAY CEL LARS OCCUPIED BY A J AUTOBODIES)

II Former clay cellars. Circa 1843.

MATERIALS: Constructed of local grey limestone rubble. It has been re-roofed with slate.

PLAN: A single storey rectangular building comprising two clay cellars with opposing doors.

EXTERIOR: The clay cellar has thick, battered walls to withstand the weight of the clay. The two doorways to the front (south) have wooden lintels and the two doorways at the rear (north) for receiving the clay have timber lintels and stone relieving arches.

INTERIOR: Internally there are king post roof trusses although some of the timbers have been replaced and many of the purlins removed.

HISTORY: In the late C18 the Stover Canal was built through the Bovey Basin for transporting ball clay and in 1841-3 Lord Clifford of Ugbrooke Park instructed his agent, Henry Knight to cut the Hackney Canal, including a tidal lock, for the transport of ball clay on the Clifford Estate. The Hackney Canal was opened in 1843 and the associated Hackney Clay Cellars, of which these two now survive, appear to date from this period. The cellars were used to store the locally-quarried ball clay which was then transported to Teignmouth for shipment via the canal and the River Teign. The Hackney Canal closed in 1929.

SOURCES: Rolt, L T C, The Potters' Field. A history of the South Devon ball clay industry (1974)

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The former clay cellars are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * An important and rare survival of two mid-C19 Hackney Clay Cellars used for the storage of ball clay * The clay cellars retain distinctive design elements including the massive battered walls to retain the weight of the clay and their opposing doors * They form an integral part of the nationally important industrial landscape of the South Devon ball clay industry