CARANNOG
(
fl.
550?
),
saint
,
is widely commemorated. He is associated with
Llangrannog
in
Cards.
(where his cave, his seat, and his lodging, are shown),
Carhampton
in
Somerset
,
Grantock
in
Cornwall
,
Dulane
(near
Kells
) in
Meath
,
Carantec
(near
Morlaix
), and other sites in
Brittany
. That the same
missionary-monk
is denoted would appear from the fact that everywhere his festival is observed on
16 May
. Tradition represents him as the son, or grandson, of
Cunedda Wledig
(q.v.)
; beyond this, there is little which can be relied upon in the pious fragments of biography which have been handed down, though it is safe to assume that his travels extended to
Ireland
and
southwestern Britain
. A gravestone, once in the churchyard, now in the church wall of
Egremont
, near
Llawhaden
, bears the inscription CARANTACUS; it is of this period, but whether it records the burial of the
saint
, or of a namesake, cannot be determined. The cross is said to be a later addition.
Bibliography:
-
The Lives of the British Saints
, ii, 78-90;
-
Archaeologia Cambrensis
,
1889
(306, 311),
1893
(287).
Author:
Sir John Edward Lloyd, D.Litt., F.B.A., F.S.A. (1861-1947), Bangor
