| Par: a village rising to a challenge |
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With its docks about to close, Laurence James discovers that the community of Par is bravely facing up to a period of change. It is probable that most of you are familiar with the name Par.  After all, anyone who ever took a train east of St Austell or west of Lostwithiel will have seen the station name board through the window of the Great Western train. However, since its reputation relies on its heavy industry rather than any claim to beauty, it is just as probable that the vast majority of you never thought of exploring this unusual Cornish village. Before the early 19th century Par didn’t exist as such. Up until then it was simply a small harbour within the bounds of the parish of St Blazey for the landing of catches of fish on a small scale. The catalyst for its development was, you can probably guess, the expansion of the market for Cornwall’s mineral wealth. Charlestown and Fowey had been the ports of choice for the copper trade until the early 1800s but as the ships got bigger so Charlestown became obsolete and, then as now, Fowey’s narrow, winding streets were unsuited to the movement of large volumes of traffic. It was Joseph Treffry, the famous industrialist and engineer, who implemented the building of Par docks in 1829 as a response to the then current demands of modern industry. Once the 12,000-foot breakwater had been built on the notorious Spit Reef, as many as 50 vessels of 200 tons could be accommodated in the harbour and further vessels could anchor in the bay and be loaded and unloaded by barge. With the greater ease of exportation of the ore, so production of the mines could be expanded - and it expanded enormously. Par Consuls mine was opened on the mount behind Par to join Treffry’s other huge mine of Fowey Consuls at Tywardreath, the most productive mine in Cornwall, employing almost 1,700 men. Other industries grew up around the new harbour as a 50-acre site was reclaimed from the sea. There was a lead smelting plant, ship repairing facilities, wharves and store yards. In addition, a major shipbuilding industry developed with schooners being built for the Newfoundland trade. A few years after the completion of the harbour in 1841, the copper market collapsed thrusting Par into crisis and Treffry himself succumbed to pneumonia in 1850. Par rose to the challenge and a new commodity came to be traded. A commodity which not only replaced the copper trade but, before long, completely dwarfed it and would continue to do so for the next century and a half. That commodity was China clay. China clay - the substance that gave so many Cornish men and women their livelihood and the area around St Austell its distinctive landscape known as the Cornish Alps. The product that made so many rich, invaluable as it was to the paper industry as well as ceramics and cosmetics manufacturers. The equivalent value in today’s money of the china clay extracted over the years comes to a staggering £13 billion. As the copper trade and the shipbuilding business both disappeared, it has now come the turn of the china clay shipping to leave Par. Just as English China Clays bought the docks from Treffry's in 1964, so they themselves were bought by the French owned Imerys in 1999. In the face of fierce global competition and mushrooming energy prices, the clay industry in Cornwall has come under immense pressure. Imerys will shortly be laying off a further 800 staff, reducing to 2,000 a workforce that numbered 4,000 a decade ago. What this means for Par is that the docks are to close with the loss of 200 jobs. The clay dries will remain but the port, the original motivation for this settlement, will be gone by the end of the year. As Par replaced Fowey almost 200 years ago as technology and working practices changed, so matters have moved full circle and Fowey is now to be the sole point of departure for all Imerys' clay. Fowey still has its narrow, winding streets, but now the clay arrives at the water’s edge either by pipeline in slurry form or along Imerys' private road that was once the track bed of the railway linking the two harbours. It isn’t surprising that such devastating developments have been met with dismay and resistance. Yet the juggernaut of international globalisation is usually irresistible and so it has proved to be in this instance. What is going to be important to Par now is to weather this storm and forge a new future. That future could be in several different directions. What is certain though is that there is a real sense of solidarity in this community and a palpable sense of optimism and determination to go forward. One of Par’s three pubs gained new landlords just 10 months ago, and they are not the sole evidence of Par’s willingness to carry on and even develop in a world without the docks. What I haven’t yet mentioned is Par’s other relationship with the sea. It is here that some continuity will be found. To the east of the docks is the very attractive, spacious swathe of beach known as Par Sands. Behind the dunes is a large modern caravan park which has been operational for around 60 years. This place was popular in the days when the environment received a lot less attention than it does now. Back then, hordes of holidaymakers would come in their droves to enjoy the obvious beauties of this lovely landscape (just don’t look west..) However, it wasn’t just sand in their shoes as they left the beach, they (or at least their youngsters) probably hadn’t escaped covering their clothes in the sticky, white china clay residue that lay everywhere in pools. Now that beach is spotless and this has to be one of the Duchy’s least talked about seaside oases. Tourism hasn’t yet got going here to the level of other more established resorts, but the local community already embrace their summer visitors and they are undoubtedly capable of extending an equally warm welcome to larger numbers. How long before people getting off the train here for a connection to Newquay start to make their way into Par itself for their summer holiday? As Eden, just up the road from here, has been formed out of a redundant clay pit, so perhaps can Par find a life after clay. How to get there: By rail: There is a station on the Penzance-Paddington mainline at Par. However not all trains stop here, in which case alight at either St Austell or Lostwithiel depending on direction travelled. By road: Par is situated just off the A390 between St Austell and Lostwithiel. There is a one–way system around Par itself and there is plenty of parking at Par Sands. By air: Newquay Airport is close by and there is a branch line rail service between Newquay and Par. |