Although there are (I believe) no photographs of the old Looe bridge, there are a couple of engravings. One is in Dr Borlases Natural History of Cornwall, if youre lucky enough to have a copy. Another one - this one - is in Old Cornish Bridges, by the eminent Cornish scholar of the beginning of the 20th century, Charles Henderson. The following is from his account: Looe Bridge across the united creeks was built in 1853 at a cost of £2,980, with 9 misshapen arches. This takes the place of a very fine medieval bridge which was built in the 15th century to link the flourishing Boroughs of East and West Looe and help travellers along the coast route from Plymouth to Fowey. Old Looe Bridge spanned the river about 100 yards below its successor. From its size, age and situation it was not unworthy of comparison with the famous Long Bridge of Bideford, built a few years later in 1459. Dr Borlase gives a good drawing of the bridge made about 1750. Fifteen arches are shown including two square openings made for the passage of rafts, one at each end. The Doctor states that the width of the bridge was 6ft 2 ins and no more. Bond in his sketches of Looe, 1883, says that the bridge was 384 ft long and varied in breadth from 10ft 3 ins to 6ft 8ins. He says there were 18 arches from 22 to 9ft in span including the two raft openings. Granite tablets at each end recorded its repair by the County in 1689. On 22nd October 1411 Bishop Stafford granted the usual Indulgence of 40 days to all the penitent Faithful who should contribute towards the cost of the new bridge then in course of erection over the tidal river of Looe, between the towns of East-lo and West-lo. He stressed the importance of the bridge to travellers passing between Plymouth and Fowey. The undertaking was a large one, and so on 6th June 1415 the Indulgence was renewed, and again a third was issued on 16th June 1418. The work progressed steadily and at length on 18th November 1436, Sir John Gynys, Chaplain, obtained license from te Bishop to celebrate Mass in the chapel of St Anne, the mother of the BV Mary, situated in the middle of the bridge of Loo, then newly rebuilt. This interesting entry in the Register [of Bishop Stafford] is the only reference we have to a chapel in the middle of a Cornish bridge, although bridge chapels were common enough in other parts of England. When the old bridge was pulled down in 1853, the only traces of the chapel consisted of a wall athwart one of the recesses near the centre of the bridge. It is probable that the chapel was profanced and destroyed at the Reformation. Looe with its 15 arches was the oldest of the four great estuary bridges of Devon and Cornwall, the other three are Bideford, Barnstaple, and Wadebridge. Looe Bridge fell into decay in 1687, and on 20th October the Justices at Lostwithiel ordered the Petty Constables of each parish in the Hundred of West to be present at the bridge on 7th November, at 10am, there to discuss the best method of repairing it and the amount of money necessary to be levied by rate.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 09:43:26 +0000