St Blazey, Cornwall

Historical Description

Blazey, St, a small town and a parish in Cornwall. The town stands under an amphitheatre of wooded heights, with a station on the G.W.R., 276 miles from London, and 4 ENE of St Austell. It took its name from Blaise, Bishop of Sebaste, in Armenia, who is said to have landed at Par in the third century, and to have suffered martyrdom in 316. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Par station (R.S.O.), and is a centre of traffic for the neighbouring mines. The town hall was erected in 1881, and will accommodate about 500 persons. There is a Working Men's Institute, established in 1882. The parish includes also Par harbour. Acreage, 1791; population of the civil parish, 2705; of the ecclesiastical, 1716. Much scenery within the parish and in the neighbourhood is picturesque and romantic. Prideaux, an ancient edifice with granite stairs, is on a height above the town; and Prideaux Warren, the remains of an ancient earthwork, is on an Adjacent height. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Exeter; value, £120 with residence. The church has an effigy of St Blaise, and is good; it was restored in 1883. There are Wesleyan Methodist, Primitive Methodist, and United Free Methodist chapels. The vicarage of Biscovey or Par is a separate benefice. R. Allen, who brought oolite stone into use, was a native.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for St Blazey from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Blazey (St.)

Maps

Online maps of St Blazey are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Cornwall papers online:

• Royal Cornwall Gazette
• Cornishman
• West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser
• Lake's Falmouth Packet and Cornwall Advertiser

Visitations Heraldic

We have a copy of The Visitations of Cornwall, by Lieut.-Col. J.L. Vivian online.