St Martin-by-Looe

{{Short description|Parish in Cornwall, UK}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

File:Valley and Trees - geograph.org.uk - 203804.jpg

St Martin-by-Looe ({{langx|kw|Penndrumm}}) is a coastal civil parish in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish is immediately east of the town and parish of Looe, {{convert|7|mi|km|spell=in}} south of Liskeard.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 201 Plymouth & Launceston {{ISBN|978-0-319-23146-3}} The parish is in the Liskeard Registration District and the population in the 2001 census was 321, which had increased to 429 at the 2011 census.{{cite web|url=http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Cornwall/StMartinbyLooe/index.html#Population|title=Parish population 2011|accessdate= 13 February 2015}}

To the north, the parish is bordered by Morval parish, to the east by Deviock parish, to the west by Looe parish and to the south by the English Channel. Until 1845 the parish also included East Looe.

File:St Martin-by-Looe, Cornwall.jpg

The parish church of St Martin stands outside the civil parish in the hamlet of St Martin at {{oscoor|SX259550|OS Grid Ref SX259550}} about a mile north of Looe town centre. Its Norman doorway is built of Tartan Down stoneFrom Tartan Down, Landrake and probably dates from about 1140. The interior of the church is of typically 15th-century appearance, but parts of the building are considerably older.{{cite book|last1=Trevaldwyn|first2= W. M. M. |last2= Picken|first1=B. W. J.|title=Parish Church of St. Martin-by-Looe|date=1985|publisher=Breton Press|location=Liskeard|page=4}}

Thomas Bond, the topographer is buried in the churchyard.John Westby-Gibson, ‘Bond, Thomas (1765–1837)’, rev. Christine North, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/2833 accessed 23 Jan 2009] Jonathan Toup, classical scholar, was presented on 28 July 1750 to the rectory of St Martin and held it until his death in 1785.

A stone cross was found at Tregoad Farm in 1906 built into the wall of a stable. In 1931 it was set up on a new base at Tregoad by the Looe Old Cornwall Society. In 1971 it was removed to the Guildhall Museum in East Looe for preservation. It is a rare example in east Cornwall of a cross with a carved figure of Christ, in this case incised.Langdon, A. G. (2005) Stone Crosses in East Cornwall; 2nd ed. Federation of Old Cornwall Societies; p. 48