St Martin by Looe, Cornwall

Historical Description

Martin, St, or St-Martin-by-Looe, a parish in Cornwall, on Looe Bay and the river Looe, 4½ miles SSW of Menheniot station on the G.W.R., and 6½ S by E of Liskeard. It contains the town of East Looe, and its post town is Looe, under Liskeard. Acreage, 3069, including a small portion of the village of Hessenford; population, 304. The manor was known at Domesday as Lant Martin, and it took its name from St Martin du Tours. About 250 acres are under wood. The coast is noticed in the articles on East Looe and West Looe. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Truro; value, £400 with residence. The church standson high ground above East Looe, is ancient but good, and was restored in 1882. The town of East Looe, jointly with that of West Looe, forms a separate benefice.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for St Martin by Looe from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Martin, St.)

Maps

Online maps of St Martin by Looe are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Cornwall papers online:

• Royal Cornwall Gazette
• Cornishman
• West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser
• Lake's Falmouth Packet and Cornwall Advertiser

Visitations Heraldic

We have a copy of The Visitations of Cornwall, by Lieut.-Col. J.L. Vivian online.