Crantock ( kw, Lanngorrow) is a coastal

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

and a village in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlan ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The village is approximately two miles (3 km) southwest of

Newquay Newquay ( ; kw, Tewynblustri) is a town on the north coast in Cornwall, in the south west of England. It is a civil parish, seaside resort, regional centre for aerospace industries, spaceport and a fishing port on the North Atlantic coast ...

. Crantock dates back to 460 AD when a group of Irish hermits founded an oratory there. The village lies to the south of the River Gannel which forms a natural boundary between the parishes of

and Crantock. The River Gannel is tidal and ferries operate on a seasonal basis from Fern Pit to Crantock Beach. The River Gannel runs along Crantock Beach and joins the Atlantic Ocean. The village can be reached from the

A3075 road List of A roads in zone 3 in Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island an ...

via the junction at

Trevemper Trevemper is a hamlet to the south of Newquay, Cornwall, United Kingdom, on the west bank of the River Gannel at the rivers lowest bridging point. Coal was shipped from Wales to the River Gannel and unloaded at Trevemper and Penpol Creek during ...

. The hamlets of

Treninnick Treninnick is a southeastern suburb of Newquay, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, near Trencreek. It is in the civil parish of Crantock.

and West Pentire are in the parish. Large parts of the parish are now in the ownership of the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

, including West Pentire headland which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest noted for its wild flowers and rare plants.

History and antiquities

The older part of the village is situated around its church which is dedicated to St Carantoc, founder of the village. At one time the parish was known as ''Langurroc'' which translates as – ''The Dwelling of Monks''. There is a Langurroc Road in the village. Langurroc was infamously (among locals) covered up in a sandstorm and may well lie beneath the sand dunes which back Crantock Beach. St Carantoc's Church was founded in Norman times and was originally cruciform, but was reconstructed in the 14th and 15th centuries: restoration was carried out during the period 1899–1902 by

E. H. Sedding Edmund Harold Sedding (1863 – 21 February 1921), often referred to as E. H. Sedding, was an English architect who practised in Devon and Cornwall. Life Sedding was born in 1863 in Pimlico, London, the son of Edmund Sedding and the nephew of J ...

, who died in 1921 and is buried in the churchyard. The

font In movable type, metal typesetting, a font is a particular #Characteristics, size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "Sort (typesetting), sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of ...

is Norman and the

rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, ...

is much restored. The church was collegiate from ca. 1236 to the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...

. Treringey Round near

Treninnick Treninnick is a southeastern suburb of Newquay, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, near Trencreek. It is in the civil parish of Crantock.

is an ancient Iron Age settlement.Treringey Round
The Megalithic Portal

Village hall and annual events

The local village hall has recently undergone a transformation, with money from the National Lottery, the awarding of which was featured on ITV's ''Westcountry Live'' television programme. The playing field on which the hall is situated was also given a new lease of life and now includes a basketball hoop, climbing facilities, and cricket and football pitches. The village hall is now three times larger than it was and was the centrepiece of 2007's annual "Jazz in the Park". The village also hosts a street fair known as the "Crantock Summer Fiesta" which has a coconut shy, tombola, raffle and many other stalls. In 2006, the village held its second annual ''"big bale push"'' involving locals pushing tightly packed straw cylinders around the roads of the village, which are closed for the event. Crantock now holds the Guinness record for bale pushing.The first event raised over £800 and in the ensuing years the total has grown to over £50,000 which has been donated to key charities close to the heart of the local community.

Beaches

Carving of woman and inscription at Crantock Beach, Cornwall

Like several other sandy beaches in the Newquay area, Crantock Beach is popular for surfing. There are car parks at Crantock Beach and West Pentire. The beach is backed by

sand dunes A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

. At the left hand side of the beach, low tide reveals a carving into a rock, showing a picture of a woman's face, and the inscription "Mar not my face but let me be, Secure in this lone cave by the sea, Let the wild waves around me roar, Kissing my lips for evermore". Supposedly, in the early 20th century a woman was horse riding along Crantock Beach. She and her horse were cut off as the tide came in and the rough seas swept them away, drowning them both. Her distraught lover carved a poem into a rock in a cave on the beach, along with a portrait of his lost love and her horse. The carvings are said to be the work of a local man, Joseph Prater. The coastal footpath skirts all along the west side of the parish. Walking from Crantock the path leads to a sandy cove called Porth Joke, also known as "Polly Joke". Its name comes from the Cornish "''porth lojowek''" meaning "cove abounding in vegetation". In later Cornish this became ''Por Lejowak''. This cove is entirely surrounded by National Trust land and has been virtually unchanged over the centuries. Further along the coast path is the village of Holywell, with a larger sandy beach at Holywell Bay.

Twinning

* Karanteg, Brittany, France

References

* Henderson, Charles (1928) ''St Carantoc'' * Doble, G. H. (1965) ''The Saints of Cornwall'', Part 4. Truro: Dean and Chapter * Bowen, E. G. (1969) ''Saints, Seaways and Settlements in the Celtic Lands''. Cardiff: University of Wales Press

External links