Par Harbour

In the 1820s, the ferry at Par was replaced with a bridge and work began on the construction of the harbour, which was completed in 1840. Since the main export from the harbour at the time was copper which needed to be taken to coal-rich South Wales for smelting, the location on the Channel coast was not ideal as ships then needed to make the treacherous journey around Lands End. Consequently work began on a tramway to replace Par with Newquay as the port for export.

Towards the end of the 19th Century, china clay took over from copper as the most profitable mineral to extract in Cornwall and Par harbour gained a new lease of life. A pipeline for clay slurry was built to the harbour, driers were built on the docks and China clay was exported all through the 20th Century until 2007. At the time of writing it is still dried at Par but then sent to Fowey to be shipped.