Hooe is a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

Plymstock Plymstock is a commuter suburb of Plymouth and former civil parish in the English county of Devon. Geography Situated on the east bank of the River Plym, Plymstock is geographically and historically part of the South Hams. It comprises the vil ...

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

in the

English county The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term "county" is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

History

Hooe was built over the site of the estate of Radford, the family seat of the Harris family. Wilson's

Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales The ''Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales'' is a substantial topographical dictionary first published between 1870 and 1872, edited by the Reverend John Marius Wilson. It contains a detailed description of England and Wales. Its six volumes h ...

from 1870 to 1872 describes Hooe as follows:

Geography

Hooe is situated adjacent to the estuary of the

River Plym The River Plym is a river in Devon, England. It runs from Dartmoor in the centre of the county southwest to meet the River Meavy, then south towards Plymouth Sound. The river is popular with canoeists, and the Plym Valley Railway runs alongsi ...

. It consists of two areas, Higher Hooe and Lower Hooe. Lower Hooe includes the area near Hooe Lake and the old barn from the former Hooe Barton Farm which was demolished in 1969. Areas around Hooe include Radford to the east,

Turnchapel Plymstock is a commuter suburb of Plymouth and former civil parish in the English county of Devon. Geography Situated on the east bank of the River Plym, Plymstock is geographically and historically part of the South Hams. It comprises the ...

to the north-west, and Jennycliff Bay to the west. Hooe has woodland and farmland to the south.

Present day

Hooe has a park, small

garage A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include: *Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicle ...

, a

newsagent A newsagent's shop or simply newsagent's or paper shop (British English), newsagency (Australian English) or newsstand (American and Canadian English) is a business that sells newspapers, magazines, cigarettes, snacks and often items of local ...

, a small

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...

, an Indian takeaway, a Chinese takeaway, a

pasty A pasty () is a British baked pastry, a traditional variety of which is particularly associated with Cornwall, South West England, but has spread all over the British Isles. It is made by placing an uncooked filling, typically meat and vegetab ...

shop and a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

. There is also Hooe Primary School in Lower Hooe, and two pubs, The Royal Oak and The Victoria. There are five quarries situated around Hooe Lake, all disused and in disrepair. The largest, Hooe Lake Quarry, was used to store fuel by the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

until the 1970s after its useful life as a limestone quarry. Adjacent to the lake at the river end of the estuary are the remains of the old

Turnchapel Branch The Turnchapel Branch was a London and South Western Railway (LSWR) single track branch railway line in Devon, England, that ran from Plymouth Friary station to Turnchapel. It crossed the River Plym and opened up the east side of the river to ...

swing bridge used for trains to access

from the

Oreston Oreston ( ), formerly a village on the southern bank of the Cattewater, is now a suburb of Plymouth. It is recorded as ''Horestone'' on the 1591 Spry ''Map of Plimmouth''. Oreston offers many small, local services. It is home to a small cornershop ...

side from 1897. It was closed in the 20th century shortly after the Second World War. Since then it has remained in a state of disrepair. The bridge itself has now gone but the structure still remains. At one end of the dam separating the freshwater Radford Lake from tidal Hooe Lake sits an early 19th-century folly known as Radford Castle.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Protecting Radford & Hooe Lake Wildlife and Habitats
Suburbs of Plymouth, Devon Folly castles in England