Crantock (St. Cadock)
CRANTOCK (St. Cadock), a parish, in the union of St. Columb Major, hundred of Pyder, W. division of Cornwall, 1 mile (S. W.) from New Quay; containing 450 inhabitants. This parish comprises by measurement 2465 acres, of which 150 are common or waste, and is bounded on the north by the Bristol Channel. It has a small harbour at the mouth of the river Gannel, which runs through the parish, where a number of vessels discharge their cargoes of coal; and sand, coal, slates, and various articles of merchandize, are carried in barges about three miles up the river. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £78; patron and impropriator, Sir J. B. Y. Buller, Bart.: the tithes have been commuted for £380, and the glebe consists of 33 acres. The church is very ancient, and has a chancel unusually large in proportion to the nave; the arches, and the principal parts of the tower, are built of sandstone: the font bears the date of 1474. In the time of Edward the Confessor, the church was made collegiate for secular canons, who continued till the Dissolution, when the revenue of £89. 15. 8. was divided amongst the dean, nine prebendaries, and four vicars-choral. In the churchyard, which covers an area of three acres, is a stone coffin: whenever the ground in the vicinity is dug up for foundations, or any excavation made, human skeletons are found. There are two places of worship for Wesleyans.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.