Editing Par, Cornwall (section)

==China clay==
In the fourth quarter of the nineteenth century, the importance of copper working had seriously diminished, due to exhaustion and the availability of cheaper supplies of the mineral elsewhere in the world. At the same time, [[china clay]] (kaolinite) became ever more important, and industrialisation of the extraction and processing work took place. This mineral became the dominant outward traffic at Par, and clay dries (driers) were erected in the vicinity (at Par Moors and elsewhere), together with further expansion of the harbour.

The opening of the [[Cornwall Railway]] from [[Plymouth]] in 1859 encouraged further expansion of Par north-eastwards towards [[Tywardreath]]. The boundaries between the three settlements are now somewhat indistinct.

In 1858 15,154&nbsp;tons of china clay were shipped out of Par. By 1885 86,325 tons were being handled at Par, but by this time Fowey had a railway connection and handled 114,403 tons. In 1987 Par handled 700,000&nbsp;tons, by 2002 the port served 284 vessels per year which were loaded with {{convert|318455|MT|LT}} of china clay, and 107 vessels loaded with {{convert|136970|MT|LT}} of secondary aggregates for the building trade.<ref>''Imerys Blueprint for Cornwall 2003: Vision for the future'', page 42</ref>

[[File:Par Harbour driers.jpg|thumb|Par Harbour in 2009]]
The harbour developed a range of industrial facilities including a [[lead smelter]] with a {{convert|248|ft|adj=on}} high chimney known as Par Stack. This was used as a navigation aid by shipping until it was demolished in 1907.