Red Lake China Clay Works, South Brent, Dartmoor National Park
Drive the A30 through Cornwall and you'll see the impressive sky tips of the Cornish Alps or White Alps created by the local china clay works. Walk the moor above Plymouth and you'll look down on the huge china clay works at, among others, Shaugh Lake, Lee Moor and Whitehill Yeo. Smaller, more remote clay works can be found on the National Park's south plateau. The best known is Red Lake China Clay Works.
A lake is a stream or brook. Red Lake is a small stream feeding the River Erme. The clay works gets its name from this lake.
We've positioned Red Lake China Clay Works on Google maps so zoom in on the 'Satellite' setting to see its location.
Whilst it's remote, Red Lake China Clay Works is relatively easily accessible. It's a long walk but the routes you take aren't particularly challenging. The most obvious route is the trackbed of Red Lake Railway. The Two Moors Way follows this. Because the trackbed is solid, you'll often see people mountain biking to Red Lake China Clay Works.
Other routes to Red Lake China Clay Works include what the Ordnance Survey Explorer OL28 'Dartmoor' map calls the Abbot's Way. It's a great walk from Shipley Bridge. You can also walk in from Ryder's Hill via Huntingdon Warren and the Heap of Sinners although it's boggy. The path marked on the Ordnance Survey Explorer OL28 'Dartmoor' map across Naker's Hill is another option. Again, very boggy. We've also wandered up from Stall Moor Stone Row via Erme Pound.
Note that there are other clay works here. Further down Red Lake Railway is Left Lake China Clay Works. There's also Petre's Pit.
Red Lake was worked between 1913 and 1932. Left Lake was worked in the 1920s and, moving back in time, the nineteenth century. Petre's Pit was also worked in the nineteenth century. There are old peat works in the Red Lake area.
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