EDUCATION CENTRE

A Potted History of the South Devon Ball Clay Industry

Clay has been used as a ceramic raw material since prehistoric times, when man first discovered that it could be shaped and baked into useful items.

It is likely that clay was mined in South Devon during the Roman occupation of Britain, but it was not until the 17th century that the industry really took off. The clays were initially highly-prized for making clay tobacco pipes, and were thought so valuable that exports were prohibited by an Act of Parliament under Charles II in 1662. The Act was not repealed until nearly 200 years later, in 1853, when a thriving export trade began.

William of Orange landed at Brixham in 1688 and was proclaimed King William III at Forde House, Newton Abbot. Dutch delftware became increasingly fashionable, and Dutch potters brought their skills to England. Delftware used a white glaze to conceal the body of the pottery which was reddish/brown earthenware.

English potters from Staffordshire - notably key figures such as John Astbury, Thomas Whieldon and Josiah Wedgwood - also sought sort to improve the colour of their pottery ware. They found in the Devon ball clays a material which could be used to produce initially a cream, and eventually a white-firing pottery body.

Over 300 years of Tradition in Devon

WBB is the oldest continuously-operating clay company in the world.

The North Devon Clay company, part of WBB Devon Clays, has a continuous history stretching back to the very beginnings of commercial clay mining in Devon, around 1685, while in South Devon, WBB's predecessors can be traced back to 1710.

During the 18th century in South Devon, clay was mainly mined in the Bellamarsh area, where it was most accessible, covered by less than three feet of topsoil. The topsoil was stripped off and the clay extracted from steep-sided trenches running along the seam (like peat trenches). The steps of the trenches were known as "eaves".

The clay was dug using specially-developed hand tools, many of which were adapted from agricultural tools and were customised to suit individual clay workers. It required considerable skill to wield the tools to their maximum advantage. On average, 70 clay lumps were assumed to weigh 22.5 cwt (1,143 kg) and this figure became the Clayworker's "tally" on which piecework rates were calculated. Use of these hand tools continued into the early 20th century.

A Clay or Thirting Spade was used to cut the surface of an exposed clay seam, criss-crossing to form a series of squares. The clay spade was a heavy tool with a blade up to 12" long. To assist the diggers and allow the spade to penetrate deeply, water was slopped onto the surface of the clay from special locally-made wooden containers.

A heavy from of mattock with an angled blade, known as a Lumper, allowed the clayworker to undercut and lever up the lumps already partially cut with the spade, but still leaving a reasonably level surface beneath for the next level of digging.

A lighter version of the Lumper, a Tubil, was then used to extract the first lump in a clay-digging course and for trimming up the sides of an excavation. Later, the tubil also found extensive use in underground mining.

A long wooden handle with a single metal spike at one end, a Pog, was used to spear the cut lumps of clay from the trench bottom and heave them to the surface. As pits became deeper the lumps could be heaved by a series of men working together on the stepped eaves. A two-pronged version of the pog was used by men loading the carts, barges and ships.

Going Underground

As demand grew for a high standard of product, extraction methods became more sophisticated, and workers dug deeper to reach higher grade materials.

Shaft mining began around 1870. Clay was worked in 24 ft square pits, which were heavily timbered to prevent collapse, and could reach as deep as 80 ft. In addition, underground mining of the clay along horizontal shafts dug from the central pit also developed. The clay was hauled to the surface using wooden jib cranes known as "crabs".

The Square Pit mining method was used up until about 1960, when it was replaced by inclined shaft ("adit") mining, and from the mid-1960s, special cutting machines were used at the underground clay faces.