The Feast Day of Blaize is celebrated here on 3rd February. Saint Blaize was a physician, and bishop of Sebastea, Armenia (now modern Sivas in Turkey). In life he blessed throats and effected many miracles in humans and cattle alike. According to his Acta Sanctorum, he was martyred by being beaten, attacked with iron carding combs, and beheaded. His cult became widespread in Europe in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

 

St. Blaize is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers or Auxiliary Saints and his legend is recounted in the fourteenth-century Legenda Aurea. Saint Blaize is the saint of the wild beast. During the annual custom, a candle that has previously been burning upon the altar of the church should be applied to those with toothache and the help of St. Blaize asked for.

The A390 passes through the town from St. Austell, and it is said to be haunted by a rather curious apparition that the author Coxe states in 'Haunted Britain' that the locals are “strangely reticent” about. Why they are so tight-lipped about it may warrant further investigation. The phantom is described as “looking like a bear, but sounds like a horse”.