| Summary : Celtic monastery probably founded by a St Carroc. Canons are recorded here in Domesday Book. Refounded as a secular college circa 1236. Crantock has documentary evidence for a pre-conquest religious community and an extensive enclosed Christian cemetery. Dissolved in 1549. In the 16th century Nicholas Roscorrack mentions the church (SW 76 SE 21) as having seven churchyards, his description may have referred to the enclosure. The 1727 Terrier states the churchyard as having an area of 2 acres with the ruins of a chapel situated near to the church. The chapel is that of St Ambrusca the Virgin (SW 76 SE 35). By 1839 a new churchyard was enclosed from the old churchyard. Inhumations, mainly cist burials have been located within the old churchyard. Investigations of the area North, East and South of the enclosure for indications of the lan to have formerly been more extensive has produced no results. To the west many burials have been noted, along the Beach Road and higher up the valley sides (SW 76 SE 25). These burials, as yet, cannot be explained in terms of an extension of the religious enclosure. |
More information : (SW78956055) College (NR) (Site of) (NAT) (1)
There was a Celtic Monastastery, of early foundation, at Crantock
until c 1210. The secular college was founded c 1236. (2)
The existence of a collegiate church is recorded in Domesday.
It was later a possession of Montacute priory and relinquished to
the Bishop of Exeter in 1224, who may have re-founded it, for
c 1314 an order for the government of the canons of the college
was published. It then consisted of a dean, eight canons and
seven vicars. Within 30 years the numbers had declined and in
1412 the collapse of the belfry reduced the nave to ruins. In
1536 when the church was appropriated there were only four
prebends according to Dugdale.
The college was sited near St Ambrose's well, and the nearby
meadow where stone graves (? coffins) have been found is said
to have been the college cemetery (3). Hals says that the remains
of the college were inundated with sand in the time of Edward VI
and were in his time scarcely discernible(4). (3,4)
There are no visible remains of the collegiate church in or
around the garden to which the OS siting has been applied. This
site is presumably traditional unless remains were found during
the construction of the adjacent 19th cent house. (5)
Crantock has documentary evidence for a pre-conquest religious community and an extensive enclosured Christian cemetery. In the 16th century Nicholas Roscorrack mentions the church (SW 76 SE 21) as having seven churchyards, his description may have referred to the enclosure. the 1727 Terrier states the churchyard as having an area of 2 acres with the ruins of a chapel situated near to the church. The chapel is that of St Ambrusca the Virgin (SW 76 SE 35). By 1839 a new churchyard was enclosed from the old churchyard. Inhumations, mainly cist burials have been located within the old churchyard. Investigations of the area North, East and South of the enclosure for indications of the lan to have formerly been more extensive has produced no results. To the west many burials have been noted, along the Beach Road and higher up the valley sides (SW 76 SE 25) These burials, as yet, cannot be explained in terms of an extension of the religious enclosure. (6)
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