Monday 18 March 2013

Boskell China-clay Works, St. Austell. 1905.

Boskell China-clay Works, St. Austell. 1905.
BGS image ID: P200201
Boskell China-clay Works, St. Austell. Looking NW. View of 'dry' showing men packing clay in barrels, ready for transport.

In the mid-18th century kaolin or China-clay was discovered at St. Austell. The extraction of China-clay, a form of decomposed granite used in the production of porcelain, became the mainstay local industry of St. Austell.

Photograph by: T.C. Hall. Date of photograph: 1905. Original BGS photograph number: A205.

2 comments:

  1. Not sure this is Boskell as the chimney at Boskell is at the southern end of the dry not the northern end.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is not Boskell, but actually one of two pan kiln buildings at Lansalson kilns. Lansalson engine house is just visible in the top right, it housed a horizontal engine which powered the pumps and wound the inclines. Boskell was a pair of kilns a little further south, in the fork between Boskell sidings and the Trenance branch line. The railway up the Trenance valley only served one kiln directly by rail, the rest, approximately 15 others, took their product by truck (originally horse and cart) to a series of loading wharves along the line. The clay companies eventually consolidated their clay drying activities at more modern rail-served facilities along the Parkandillack branch. By the time the line closed, the traffic had dwindled to almost nothing.

    ReplyDelete