Pope Clement I is the patron saint of metalworkers and blacksmiths, and so these workers traditionally enjoyed a holiday on his feast day.

Traditional toasts included "True hearts and sound bottoms, check shirts and leather aprons" and "Here's to old Vulcan, as bold as a lion, A large shop and no iron, A big hearth and no coal, And a large pair of bellowses full of holes".

In the nineteenth century at Bramber in West Sussex an effigy of Old Clem was propped up in the public bar while the smiths enjoyed their dinner.

Many legends surround Saint Clement, some suggest he was the first man to refine iron from ore, and to shoe a horse.

[citation needed] In Charles Dickens's Great Expectations Miss Havisham insists Pip sing for her and her ward Estella, and Pip responds with a ditty from Joe's forge "that imitated the measure of beating upon iron": "... hammer boys round – Old Clem!

Similarly, Old Clem and Saint Dunstan, another blacksmith saint, said to have pulled off the devil's nose with hot tongs, used to meet together on the same day at nearby Mayfield accompanied by blacksmiths, devils and morris dancing, but sadly this custom has fallen into abeyance.

A local smith played Old Clem for the day and was pulled around in a cart collecting money and firing off his anvil.

Ironworkers gather from all over the Britain to celebrate Saint Clement's Day at Finch Foundry near Okehampton in Devon.

Smiths demonstrate their art and display decorative ironware as part of a national competition, and they and the public can enjoy Morris dancing, mince pies and mulled wine.