"St Carantoc is depicted in the statue which faces you as you enter the Church as a Mitred Abbot. He may well have been in Bishop's Orders. His feast day is 16th May and he is honored by the Church and the whole village as Abbot and Confessor."
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"Saint Carantoc (Welsh: Carannog; Irish: Cairnech; Breton: Karanteg; Latin: Carantocus), also anglicized as Carantock and by other spellings, was a 6th-century abbot, confessor, and saint in Wales and the West Country. He is credited with founding Llangrannog, Ceredigion, Wales and St Carantoc's Church, Crantock. His name is listed amongst the Cornish Saints. Carantoc's is one of five insular saints' lives and two Breton ones that mention Arthur in contexts that may be independent of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae.
Cadoc's early vita takes the form of a short homily. Many details of his life are obscure or contradictory. Ceredigion is given as his birthplace, sua proprio regio. He was the son of Corwn, grandson of Ceredig, King of Ceredigion. To escape being elected king, he fled to Llangrannog. The shavings he produced for lighting a fire there were carried away as soon as they were made by a dove: where the bird alighted, Carantoc built the present church (This story is sometimes ascribed to Crantock in Cornwall, where the parish church is dedicated to Saint Carantoc but according to the early Life in the Léon Breviary, which concentrates on Carantoc's early life, set in Ireland, occurred in Wales).
He probably moved to Cornwall before preaching for some time in Ireland, around Dulane in County Meath and Inis-Baithen in Leinster. It is also sometimes said that he spent time in Brittany where there is a town also named Carantec: stories set in Brittany replicate those from Britain.
Carantoc's place of death and burial is disputed between Inis Baithen and Dulane. His feast day is 16 May.
Carantoc and Arthur -
In the most famous incident of Carantoc's life, the saint, having returned to Wales, crossed the Bristol Channel, looking for his portable altar. He arrived on the banks of the River Willett and came into conflict with both King Cado of Dumnonia and King Arthur at Dunster in Somerset.
Carantoc was eventually obliged to defeat a ferocious dragon in order to retrieve his altar and, in return, was given land at nearby Carhampton to found a monastery."
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"The first Christian foundation on the site of the present St Carantoc Church probably dates back to about the 5th Century when St Carantoc arrived here and made a Missionary centre. The present Church is basically of Norman design however the Chancel was rebuilt in the 15th Century, the South Porch in the 17th Century and some walls and windows are of early English rebuilding. Two original Norman arches remain on either side of the Chancel arch leading into the Lady Chapel in the South and the Organ in the North. Originally there was a tower in the centre of the building the lower courses of the massive pillars can still be seen, the tower collapsed in the 15th century bringing down much of the Nave and Transepts, hence the need for the rebuilding mentioned above.The present Tower was built in the late 15th Century.
The Church became a centre of a College of Priests, the charter being granted by Edward the Confessor, the college was renowned for its learning and consisted of a Dean and Nine Prebendaries, and about four Priest-Vicars. One of the latter was the Parish Priest for Crantock and another for St Columb Minor. Crantock is the Mother Church for the area including Newquay. St Columb became a parish in the 18th Century and Newquay about 1900. It is said that the Church had seven Churchyards each containg a Chapel and was a popular place of Pilgriage from the surrounding parishes. Originally the Chancel was the centre of worship whilst the smaller and lower Nave served for the few and poor parishioners."
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