It became developed in the second quarter of the 19th century when the harbour was developed, to serve copper mines and other mineral sites in and surrounding the Luxulyan Valley; china clay later became the dominant traffic as copper working declined, and the harbour and the china clay dries remain as distinctive features of the industrial heritage; however the mineral activity is much reduced.

The Church of the Good Shepherd at Par Green was designed by E. H. Sedding and built of granite with Polyphant stone dressings in 1896.

However copper was exported to Swansea for smelting and coal for powering mine engines were imported from there; this involved a difficult sea passage around Land's End, and Treffry announced his intention to continue his tramway to Newquay, on the north coast of Cornwall.

[7] In the fourth quarter of the nineteenth century, the importance of copper working had seriously diminished, due to exhaustion and the availability of cheaper supplies of the mineral elsewhere in the world.

At the same time, china clay (kaolinite) became ever more important, and industrialisation of the extraction and processing work took place.

The opening of the Cornwall Railway from Plymouth in 1859 encouraged further expansion of Par north-eastwards towards Tywardreath.

[8] The harbour developed a range of industrial facilities including a lead smelter with a 248-foot (76 m) high chimney known as Par Stack.

Today china clay is piped to the harbour in slurry form; most is dried in large sheds before exporting either from Par or Fowey, the two being linked by a private road.

[10] There were plans to re-develop the docks as part of the St Austell and Clay Country Eco-town.

The Cornwall Railway line was converted to standard gauge on 21 May 1892, from which time ordinary interworking became possible.

[7] Par harbour continued in importance in the 20th century; the restricted railway facilities on the site led to dedicated shunting locomotives, such as Bagnall 0-4-0ST "Alfred" and "Judy", being built specially for the work.

The railway line from Par to Fowey closed on 1 July 1968, and was converted to a private haul road linking the two harbours; it is now owned by Imerys.

Cornish wrestling tournaments took place in the following locations all around Par Green over the last 200 years: John Keast OBE, The King of Mid-Cornwall: the Life of Joseph Thomas Treffry (1782–1850), Truran, 1983, ISBN 978-0907566199