Name: ST BLAZEY
Council: Restormel Borough Council
Location: Between St Austell and Fowey, close to South Cornwall Coast
Main period of industrial settlement growth: 1820 - 1945 (and later)
Study Area: St Austell
NGR: SX 0653
Main industry: China clay and mining

Industrial history and significance

Until the early 19th century St Blazey was a small agricultural village based on a medieval church and surrounded by farming and fishing hamlets. From the 1820s, however, Joseph Treffry developed the Luxulyan Valley and the area to the south as a centre for the extraction and export of tin and copper ores and china clay and stone. With the construction of the Par Canal, Par Harbour, and (later) the Cornwall Mineral Railway (CMR), St Blazey expanded into a small town and industrialised settlements also developed at Par and St Blazey Gate (the growth of the latter also resulting from its location on a turnpike road). Owing to the continuation of the china clay industry and Par Docks, the industrial function of these settlements persisted until recent times, and in the case of Par in particular continues to the present day. Despite modern redevelopment and housing estates, many historic industrial features survive - for example, 19th and early 20th century terraced houses, religious and municipal buildings, and shops, together with William West’s foundry, the Par Canal, the CMR and its impressive locomotive depot.

Downloads:

The downloads offered below represent the different elements of the CISI Pool Report including the core text and the four illustrative map figures.
 

Title	Description	Format	Size
CISI St Blazey report	Report text.		2067kb
Figure 1	Location map		1280kb
Figure 2	Historical development map		2279kb
Figure 3	Surviving historical components map		2561kb
Figure 4a	Gazetteer sites, existing designations and recommendations map		4241kb
Figure 4b	Gazetteer sites, existing designations and recommendations map		793kb

Last Updated: 17/08/2005. © Cornwall County Council, Historic Environment Service.