Demand for clay was low during the war with production again not rising until 1925. The China Clay Corporation, one of only four independent companies in Devon, collapsed in 1919 and was put up for auction. Although the reserve price was set at £200,000 the property was eventually sold to Harry Mallaby Deeley MP, a principle shareholder of the China Clay Corporation, for £47,000 by Order of the Court.
The new company called itself the Ivybridge China Clay Company Ltd and the enterprise reopened in 1922. The pit initially prospered and for the first time worked under full production with the prospects for a successful future looking good. Sir Harry (created a baronet in 1922) also re-opened the Left Lake workings, doubling the capacity of the Cantrell Works.
The low quality of the Redlake clay makes the success of the pit during the 1920s quite remarkable and the Cantrell dries were kept at full capacity with just the Redlake clay so the addition of the re-opened Leftlake production resulted in a bottle neck at Cantrell. There is no evidence that the capacity was ever extended: instead the Redlake clay went to the Bittaford side of the works and the Leftlake clay to the Ivybridge side, with the clays being sent down the pipeline on alternate days.