St Nicholas’ Church, West Looe is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

parish church in

Looe Looe (; kw, Logh, ) is a coastal town and civil parish in south-east Cornwall, England, with a population of 5,280 at the 2011 census. Looe is west of Plymouth and south of Liskeard, divided in two by the River Looe, East Looe ( kw, links ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

History

The church, dedicated to St Nicholas, Bishop of Myra was built either in the 13th or 14th century by the D’Aubigny family, who then held the Manors of Looe. It was endowed on 11 July 1336 by parishioners of

Talland Talland ( kw, Tallan) is a hamlet and ecclesiastical parish between Looe and Polperro on the south coast of Cornwall (the parish includes the eastern part of the village of Polperro, where there is a chapel of ease and formerly also the town of ...

, and by

Sir John Dawnay Sir John Dawney or Dawnay (d.1346/7) was the eldest son of Nicholas Dawney (d. shortly before 15 Sep 1333) of Mudford Terry, Somerset, and his wife, Elizabeth. John Dawney's younger brother, Thomas Dawney of Escrick, Yorkshire, married Elizabe ...

. The endowment was confirmed by Bishop

John Grandisson The '' John Grandisson Triptych'', displaying on two small escutcheons the arms of Bishop Grandisson. British Museum John de Grandisson (1292 – 16 July 1369), also spelt Grandison, was Bishop of Exeter, in Devon, England, from 1327 to his deat ...

of Exeter. During the time of the

Commonwealth of England The Commonwealth was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when England and Wales, later along with Ireland and Scotland, were governed as a republic after the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execu ...

, the Chapel became the Guildhall for West Looe, but was restored for public worship on the accession of King Charles II. This was short-lived, and later it reverted to be the Guildhall and prison until 1852. It was restored for public worship through the efforts of the vicar, Mr. Seymour and John Francis Buller of Morval, with work done by local country tradesmen under the supervision of Captain C. Cocks, when an aisle was added and it re-opened for public worship on All Saints’ Day, 1852. The chancel was lengthened, using timber from the ''St Josef'', a ship captured by Admiral Nelson at the

Battle of Cape St Vincent (1797) The Battle of Cape St. Vincent (14 February 1797) was one of the opening battles of the Anglo-Spanish War (1796–1808), as part of the French Revolutionary Wars, where a British fleet under Admiral Sir John Jervis defeated a greatly superior ...

Parish status

The church is in a joint parish with *St Wenna’s Church, Morval *

St Martin’s Church, St Martin-by-Looe St Martin's Church is a parish church in the hamlet of St Martin, Looe, Cornwall, in the Church of England Diocese of Truro. History and description The church dates from the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. It was restored in 1882 and also in 190 ...

References

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West Looe West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

Looe