Crantock
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Crantock
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OS grid reference | SW790603 |
Civil parish |
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Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | NEWQUAY |
Postcode district | TR8 |
Dialling code | 01637 |
Police | Devon and Cornwall |
Fire | Cornwall |
Ambulance | South Western |
UK Parliament | |
Crantock (
In 460, a group of Irish hermits founded an oratory there. The village lies to the south of the
Large parts of the parish are now in the ownership of the
History and antiquities
The Gannel Estuary, Cornwall: Archaeological and Historical Assessment, published by the Cornwall Archaeological Unit concluded that human activity around the Gannel could be dated to the Mesolithic period.[4] The earliest development in the area is Treringey Round, a roughly-rectangular area enclosed by bank 1 metre high and an outer ditch 1.3 metres deep. It is of unknown pre-historic date. Treringey Round is located at the end of an ancient route at the head of the (then) navigable Gannel estuary.[5][6]
The older part of Crantock village is situated around its church which is dedicated to
Village hall and annual events
The local village hall has recently[when?] 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. [citation needed]
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.[8]
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. 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
Like several other sandy beaches in the Newquay area, Crantock Beach is popular for
Rock carving
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.[13]
It is unclear who Joseph Prater was. The brothers Joseph and William Prater are known to be two members of an artistic family who rented a couple of studio huts on the cliff top above Crantock beach. Another candidate for the artwork is Joseph Henry Prater who worked and lived as a dairyman on his father’s farm just above the cave. The identity of the woman depicted in the carving is also not known, though an Ethel de Medina Greenstreet nee Spender, a journalist, drowned on Crantock Beach in 1904. One source attributes the carving of the horse to be the work of a local man, James Dyer, who created the carving in the 1940s.[14][15][16]
Coastal footpath
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".[13] Its name comes from the Cornish "porth lojowek" meaning "cove abounding in vegetation". In later Cornish this became Por Lejowak.[17] 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
See also
Places also associated with St Carantoc include:
- St Carantoc's Church, Crantock
- Carhampton, Somerset
- Llangrannog, Ceredigion, Wales
- Carantec, Finistère, Brittany, France
References
- ^ "Crantock Parish Council | Home".
- ISBN 978-0-319-22938-5
- ^ Cornwall; Explore Britain
- ^ "The Gannel Estuary, Cornwall. Archaeological and Historical Assessment". archaeologydataservice.ac.uk. 25 June 2023. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
- ^ "Enclosure known as Treringey Round, Crantock - 1004460 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. 25 June 2023. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
- ^ "Archaeology Data Service: Treringey Round". archaeologydataservice.ac.uk. 25 June 2023. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
- ^ Betjeman, J. (ed.), Collins Pocket Guide to English Parish Churches: the South (London: Collins, 1968) p. 147
- ^ "Summer Fiesta success". Western Morning News. 13 July 2000.
- ^ "More rescues at 'unpredictable' storm-damaged Crantock beach". BBC News. 22 October 2019. Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
- ^ "Gannel (Lower) | Catchment Data Explorer | Catchment Data Explorer". environment.data.gov.uk. 25 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
- ^ "Crantock Parish Council | Home". Crantock Parish Council. 25 June 2023. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
- ^ "Warning to Crantock beachgoers over 'sheer cliff' of sand". BBC News. 16 June 2023. Archived from the original on 16 June 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
- ^ a b "Exploring Crantock Beach │ Cornwall". National Trust. 22 June 2023. Archived from the original on 22 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
- ^ esdale77 (7 April 2016). "Crantock's hidden rock carvings & the mystery lady". The Cornish Bird. Archived from the original on 8 May 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Crantock's Secret Carving". Cornish Secrets. 28 April 2020. Archived from the original on 8 August 2022. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
- ^ Gizauskas, Rosie (1 February 2018). "Romantic beach in Cornwall hides a heartbreaking secret". News.com.au. Archived from the original on 22 June 2023.
- ^ Weatherhill, Craig (2009). A Concise Dictionary of Cornish Place-Names. Evertype.
- 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