 Carpalla's largest and most dominant feature is a disused china clay mine, around which the hamlet and the neighbouring village of Foxhole developed.Up until the mid-19th century farming had been the main industry in the area, the 1841 United Kingdom census showed that the vast majority of residents were engaged in agricultural work, however by the time the 1851 census was carried out the clay industry had slightly overtaken farming as the biggest employer.There was also a long history of tin mining in the area, but this had come to an end by the 1850s.