Winning the clay

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China Clay was removed from the ground with hand tools and took off from its overburden. Indeed the clay was covered with soil and plants that had to be removed because it abided a long time underground. Next, it needed to be separated from the decomposed granite. High pressure streams/hoses were run over the clay face. Clay and sand mixture remaining are forming a white milky liquid called slurry. Slurry used to be pumped from the pit by a water-wheel and port to drags. Besides water-wheels were used to produce energy and run pumps, although later many in Cornwall were replaced by steam engines. Drags were concrete channels used to settle out quartz and mica sands from the clay. Later, clay had to be dried few days in settling pits. When it thickened to the consistency of single cream, the clay was channelled through pipes to settling tanks where it continued to dry for up to 3 months. Lastly, it spread across the Pan Kiln’s floor made of porous pan tiles that allowed the heat through finishing drying.

Nowadays, it is called refining process, in the 19th century, this whole operation was called “winning the clay”.