Churches of the British Isles

A collegiate church was founded by the bishop of Exeter in the mid-1200s. In 1377 the church was seriously in need of repair. The cost of rescuing the tower was beyond the resources of the canons, despite a legacy being left to them in 1393. Not long afterwards the tower collapsed onto the nave, ruining both. It took until 1412 to raise funds for repairs, through selling indulgences. Following the dissolution of the monasteries the college was closed.

Over three centuries of neglect was to follow. In the eighteenth century the roofs and windows were restored. Crantock reached its nadir in the nineteenth century, when the church was virtually a ruin. However Victorian restoration in the late nineteenth century rescued it, along with another restoration between 1902 and 1907 by Edmund H Sedding, leaving 'the best adorned church in Cornwall'. When Sedding died in 1921, he was buried in the churchyard.

Crantock (First) Wesleyan Methodist Chapel is on the east side of Halwyn Hill, in line with Green Lane to the immediate west. The chapel is shown as Wesleyan on old maps. Although there is no evidence that Wesley ever visited Crantock, services were held in Joseph Prater's kitchen at Halwyn until the building of this chapel in 1827. It remained in use until the present chapel was built in 1872 (see below). Then it became the Sunday school, although it is now a holiday home.

Crantock (Second) Wesleyan Methodist Chapel can be found on the east side of Trevowah Road, just fifty metres south of the West Pentire Road junction. The chapel was built in 1872, replacing the congregation's first dedicated building a short way to the north (see above). The old chapel become the Sunday school for a time, although more recently the building was sold off as private residences. The new chapel became Crantock Methodist Church in 1932 and remains active.

Crantock Parish Room sits on the northern side of West Pentire Road, midway between the St Carantoc Way and Pentire Green junctions. This building appears on the 1907 map, standing next to the much larger vicarage building (which also still exists). By the 1970s the parish room is marked on maps as a hall, while the old malt house in the village was also used at some point as a parish room. At a point between the 1970s and 2020 it became a private residential property.

Three photos on this page by Jo Lewis, two by P L Kessler, and one kindly contributed by Roy Reed via the 'History Files: Churches of the British Isles' Flickr group. The tour now progresses into Carrick (North & West).