Looe
Looe maps (2 available)
Map of Cornwall
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Looe books (12 available)
Truro Town Walk Guide
Paperback
Cornwall Living Memories
Paperback
St Austell Bay Photographic Memories
Paperback
- 7 photos on Looe appear in 4 Frith books - View photos of Looe
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Looe and Cornwall
Looe memories
Read and share memories of Looe and Cornwall inspired by Frith photos
Summer High Tides
I used to hire the Council deck chairs and beach floats on East Looe beach and rake and clean out the beach tents as a student summer job. On the high tides when the tents were removed the sea would break against the promenade wall. After each wave the kids would identify any exposed silver coins lost by 'visitors' in the tents when they changed into their swimmers, jump over the railings to pick them up and clamber back up before the next wave broke. There were mishaps but the return was often greater than the 6d obtained from a none-returned deck chair ticket or the 3d for an empty drink bottle. Recycling in its earlier form!
Contributed by John Tyler
Punch and Judy
During the summer season we had Punch and Judy shows on Looe main beach. The puppeteer would parade up and down the prom and beach on a pair of very tall stilts. This, of course, would get everybody's attention. He would 'advertise' his next show. Can't remember how much it cost though!
Contributed by Charles TYLER
Skiddery Rock
I remember as a child sliding down 'skiddery rock'. It seemed so large at the time.
Alas, most of it has now disappeared beneath the 'new' promenade. The rock was a large inclined slab behind the 'top' Bassett's Cafe.
Contributed by Charles TYLER
Cornwall memories
Summer High Tides
I used to hire the Council deck chairs and beach floats on East Looe beach and rake and clean out the beach tents as a student summer job. On the high tides when the tents were removed the sea would break against the promenade wall. After each wave the kids would identify any exposed silver coins lost by 'visitors' in the tents when they changed into their swimmers, jump over the railings to pick them up and clamber back up before the next wave broke. There were mishaps but the return was often greater than the 6d obtained from a none-returned deck chair ticket or the 3d for an empty drink bottle. Recycling in its earlier form!
A memory of Looe contributed by John Tyler
Extracts From Looe & Cornwall books
Fishing luggers are moored alongside the quay at West Looe at high tide, and are preparing to leave for the fishing grounds. Fish baskets are loaded on the nearest vessel.
An extract from from"Cornwall County Memories".
The narrow sheltered harbour at Looe is seen to good effect from near Hannafore. There are sailing ships and fishing boats alongside the quays at East Looe, with warehouses and a fish cellar in the foreground. This view shows how the town is packed into the level ground between the harbour and steep hillside. The fine bridge across the harbour replaced an older one in 1853, and the tide reaches far beyond.
An extract from from"Cornwall County Memories".
As a port, Looe declined with the coming of the railways, though it continued to maintain a fishing fleet; there were
also exports of granite from local quarries, which was used for harbours, breakwaters and bridges. At the cutting edge
of equal opportunities, even in the 19th century, the women of Looe, as well as looking after the children, cooking,
washing and everything else, were expected to assist with loading and unloading cargo.
An extract from from"Victorian and Edwardian Maritime Album".
The fishermen are standing on ‘Little Pier’. We are looking upstream at half tide towards West Looe on the far side of the harbour. On the extreme left is a wall supporting the cliffside road out to Hannafore, ‘a developing residential estate facing the open sea.’
An extract from from"Cornwall County Memories".
This is one of Frith’s posed groups. The
fisherman on the right is well protected
from the elements. His heavy seaboots
would have been made of leather, and
would have to have been greased
regularly in order to keep them both
supple and waterproof.
An extract from from"Victorian and Edwardian Maritime Album".