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St Keyne and St Martin, St Martin-by-Looe, Cornwall

Location
(50°22′8″N, 4°26′58″W)
St Martin-by-Looe
SX 259 550
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Cornwall
now Cornwall
medieval Exeter
now Truro
  • Richard Jewell

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Description

Present church is mostly Perpendicular, but one Early English window has been uncovered towards the W end of the S wall. The N door is Romanesque, as is potentially the font.

History

Pevsner notes that the earliest recorded dedication is 1258. Looe is not in the Domesday Book or the the Taxatio, however Looe was the only sea port of note in Cornwall other than Fowey. St Martin was the parish church of both East and West Looe, although the chapel of St Kyn in East Looe was made a parish in 1845. The church of St Nicholas in West Looe entered secular use after the Reformation, and retains some medieval fabric. It is now a united parish with St Martin.

Features

Exterior Features

Doorways

Furnishings

Fonts

Comments/Opinions

Pevsner points out that font was considered by Henderson as 15thc imitation Romanesque. The fleurons either side of the tree do indeed look more 15thc than anything else, and it would also explain the unusual decoration on the other sides.

Bibliography

N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Cornwall, Harmondsworth 1951, 170-71.