Cornish-Voices Fishing Looe Cornwall 1960s

Stuart Armfield artist and filmaker shot a series of films between 1958 and 1970 in and around the port of Looe in South Cornwall using a Bolex 16mm colour camera. This archive footage from the South West Film and Television Archive was edited by Robert Hocking and converted into a digital format. The project has been part funded by South West Screen and the Heritage Lottery Fund. In this film the footage has been enriched by using music from Rob Congdon.

[@CelticSaint]

An era never to be repeated, unfortunately. One can't but help think that to have been young and living in the 60's must have been quite amazing.

[@SaxonSuccess]

It was.

[@andydonovan1941]

It was a pleasure to see my late grandfather Bill Pengelly skipper of the Our Boys from a time before I was born.

[@quagmire475]

Having lived in Looe all my life, this is awesome!

[@Emtbwebb]

Looe is amazing

[@PortbyhanMan]

My home town! My family are an old Looe family. My Grandparents used to have the only chip shop in west Looe - Hamiltons. It isn't the same no more as when I was growing up there. Still...home is home, and Looe is the home of my family. Love it.

[@neilkennedy6334]

Lots of fond childhood memories and familiar voices. Thanks.

[@jogolock1190]

Person who put the music to this needs to be banned from the internet forever.

[@gonzostew]

OMG, I was 14 in '59 and what a summer, endless sunshine, we had rented a house (Lucastes) at Lerryn some 10 miles or so from Looe. I used to cycle to Looe and fish, swim, etc. Thanks CornishVoices, such memories.

[@quickerthanyou]

This video portrays the days of my father,,,,,,,,,,,,,how i wish we could return to them. We have definitely past the pinnacle of our time, and are all on the way down the other side...................god help us in this protracted slide into oblivion. RJ

[@trodd1sox]

What the hell is the thinking behind the decision to have this unnecessary music in the foreground (not background) thus drowning out the sound of these cool accents, which is the purpose behind this video, isn't it? Truly baffling!

[@ianthompson9201]

Especially when the film is called Cornish Voices. Presumably a noise-free version still exists somewhere? I hope this current craze for cheap backing noise behind every video will soon die the death it deserves.

[@yannschonfeld5847]

The people, the landscape and the accent reminds me of Bro-Dreger in Brittany when the people still commonly spoke Breton. I used to go fishing with the fishermen of Ploumanac'h years ago and the Tregorese Breton dialect is very reminiscent of these chaps accent in English. Moreover, I went to a Cornish Language Revival get togther in 1984 and I could understand and make myself understood so much the Tregorese Breton and Cornish are similar despite certain consonnant and vowel changes as well as some vocabulary.

[@royboyx2]

speaking as a Cornish descendant, this video could do with a little less of the Trip-Hop.

[@hodgey1668]

We might be related my man ;) my surname's Hodge and we're from east Cornwall

[@royboyx2]

My father"s family was from Tywardreath, a little over half a mile north of Par Sands. I"m half Cornish really and visited the town back in the mid-seventies. I loved it, but the trip was too short. Ran low on the Bangers and Mash..

[@Theflowoflove]

Thank you, it ruins it. Would have been more fitting to hear a sea shanty song if anything.

[@finlaymorgan1405]

Right on shaggers

[@barryhardman8102]

I was a six year old living in Salcombe back in 1955 and my dearest wish would be to return to those halcyon days which have been forever lost.

[@m.l.6685]

Modern music adds an artistic tone to it. Love the combo of music and visuals. Absolutely beautiful.

[@adampengelly389]

I am a pengelly from Looe and this video means alot to me as my great grandfather is in this video (A J Pengelly) thanks for the great video :D

[@adampengelly389]

shane pengelly There’s a few , not as many as they used to be.

[@carlsumm6866]

Bluddy beautiful.......well done boys......made my eyes water.....

[@DIYPerks]

The music doesn't sound 60's. Sounds like 90s ambiance.

[@Emtbwebb]

Before smart phones destroyed our cultures 😢😢😢😢😢 i love looe just returned today been down there 8 days

[@GhibliFan1]

Great video. Love Cornwall and it's nice to see it in a time I wasn't alive.

[@Dipsylala]

My great great grandfather, Richard Pengelly or I think his nickname was 'Dick Clubs' owned a few of the boats shown, Eileen, Our boys, Our Daddy and Our Girls. I don't have any relations that I know of in the Looe area anymore so I find this video fascinating. Great video:)

[@marktrebilcock8698]

I'm sure you do have distant family still in Looe, the Pengelly family descendants are still there for sure. I only say this because I married a Looe girl, and am sure one of her relatives married a Pengelly, I'm a Falmouth boy btw so keep my nose out of Looe affairs;) The fishing boat 'Our Daddy' is still in good shape and used to spend a lot of time in Falmouth only a few years ago. Happy hunting:)

[@sarahstrong7174]

Great old film thanks.

[@celticsian9714]

I don’t hate the music - gives the footage a dreamy, sunny ☀️ quality

[@giorgiovigo]

This great filmmaker Steward Armfield which goes all my admiration for his talent.

[@WELLBRAN]

Thanks for this clip, liked the voice overs! from a Cornishman

[@Beachloaf]

Cornwall, what a fantastic place to be born and grow up as I did,singalongs,and Cornish Voices, brilliant and we took it all for granted!pubs packed to the gunwhales,singing the old songs, sunday lunchtimes were the best,most pubs in Penzance were good for a singsong,,,where has it all gone? why dont we see it today? how our lifestyles have changed, and not for the better I fear!! Folk,Hymns,sea shanty,Traditional you name it we sang it!but sadly no more, very rare these days. Kernow Bys Vyken

[@Emtbwebb]

Folks are too interested in being rich today and stuck on mobile phone devices humans have become very self centered, more mental health problems are growing fast, its all the shit poisoning foods we all consume! Drugs are destroying our lands too they bring in very nasty people

[@stuartkennedy4202]

Great film. How things have changed 😩

[@ianmiller865]

stunning.

[@waderm810]

all in the days before holiday lets , perhaps most of these people could actualy afford to live here! oh the days! superb vid as well.

[@Clona94]

I met Dick Butters, one of the names he mentions at 2.04. Really excited me hearing that, it's safe to say this is totally legit.

[@1000gregory4]

Does anybody remember the man hiring out motor boats? I think it was in the eighties?. I remember hiring one out and going out to looe island with friends and swimming off there, only to find out that a large short fin mako shark had been caught off there recently. I don't think that we would have swum there if we'd have known that !

[@vanjammer]

Hi c v . My father owned Our Girls in the late 60s. kept her in the Hamble river near Southampton. Briliant to see her in this video. We have cine 8 film of her in the atic. Nice film .Thanks

[@BawztaeyerMaw]

Beautiful

[@fluffsta]

Real good video. Hope to see more 5/5.

[@sandratogneri9982]

Think we've all done crab fishing XXX

[@74stigma]

brilliant video, reminds of the basque country in northern spain

[@mrmagicroundcircle]

was told many years ago that the Cornish man is the finest fisherman in the world

[@kurabenokentenda4018]

Romantic!

[@Mama_Pills]

I love the accents. Oh, dear.

[@be8nice]

Check out the youtube video on the Tangier Island, VA, accent. The island was settled in the late 1600s and there's a definite Cornish influence in the local accent. Fascinating.

[@bezstarling8419]

It was!

[@kellydg471]

For the same reason they play "music" in restaurants when one is trying to have a quiet meal with friends.

[@WELLBRAN]

Yes all the family homes are now holiday homes and the "Cornish" live up out the town on the council estates, in most villages priced out of it

[@thecoolman1219]

Back when there were fish to be caught

[@moelman100]

What a great piece of film, makes me want to be there again. Anyone know the music? now thats not from the 60's surley

[@patrickrobinson317]

This seems like a Life Time ago - sigh ........

[@charlystarly24]

I miss it down there:( I grew up there but i've been banned from going down cos of family probs. I LUV it down there, there's nm to do for teenagers though which is the only problem that I've had.

[@GabrielRobinson1991]

jesus christ, that was amazing

[@robsargent4]

Interesting video. Not really a fan of the background music myself, but I didn't mind too much, because of the interesting film and the voices. Don't have any Cornish heritage myself, but plenty of fishing. Just anxious that people's culture is going to be sacrificed to ease communication in an increasingly globalised world, although I know this is already happening and has been happening for a long time.

[@USERNAMEfieldempty]

@robsargent4 Bairn / Barn meaning 'child' is from Old Norse, in other words, it's a Viking word.

[@DerekHastings]

Hey Cornish Voices, Do you have a link to the musician on this video. Loved it. It says the music was by Rob Congdon. I could only find one link to a guitar player in a band called C-Force. Would love to have a link to where this music came from.

[@cornwallgeezer]

English politics out of cornwall. Kernow bys vyken! Long live the Cornish and our history!

[@TheLizardKing1967]

@WELLBRAN . Yes and it lives in the Tide water area of Virgina USA

[@cornwallgeezer]

Cornish forever!

[@gramursowanfaborden5820]

everyone is complaining about the music, sort it out bwy.

[@dirtmansimages]

Accents are similar to the Chesapeake Bay Waterman; Tangier Island and Smith Island, accent is rarely heard unless the locals are speaking to one another.

[@marktrebilcock8698]

They probably originated from around here in Cornwall, not forgetting that the 'Pilgrim fathers' left from Plymouth in the early 1600s to settle North America, Plymouth being around 10 nautical miles away from Looe where this is filmed:)

[@robsargent4]

@rheghead @rheghead Does barn mean boy or just child? Some of us here in Scotland say bairn (pronounced with an "a" like that in the word "snare") to mean child. I think bairn's just an archaic English word - people in the North of England used to say it. Maybe Anglo Saxon. I don't know about barn myself.

[@stephen6452]

I suppose Desirée (Stuart. He was related to Desirée Armfeld, so we teased him about it) is dead by now.

[@SageOfTheSouth]

What is the name of the background track/who is the artist?

[@madbiker55]

Think my dad worked on "Our Daddy" at some poing over the years, in the 70's i think

[@seanyroche]

@rheghead i would love to have been able to grow up like that.

[@Svvithred]

I could hear every word spoken over the music and I really like the music, I have a lot of Cornish heritage, so this was really lovely to see.

[@3tangle3]

@WELLBRAN please tell me cornish communities contiuing i want to visit :)

[@ROSSYBYE]

i live near looe!

[@robsargent4]

@Boingusboingus ...Scotland where the fishermen and their families can't afford to live anywhere near the harbour!) I suppose the problem in Cornwall is similar.

[@brentwoodbay]

I CAN'T HEAR WHAT THEY ARE SAYING! CAN YOU NOT RE-PROCESS IT WITHOUT THAT MUSIC. I CAME ON HERE TO STUDY THE ACCENT AND ALL I CAN HEAR IS THAT MUSIC!

[@robsargent4]

@USERNAMEfieldempty Interesting. Not surprising really - it sounded fairly Germanic to me, but then again the word "chimney" sounds pretty Germanic to me and apparently it's an Old French word! Languages are interesting things (to me at least).

[@WELLBRAN]

Because the Cornish community now is the minority, each town / village has changed, non Cornish everywhere and a culture dies, but there are still pockets of resistance!

[@robsargent4]

@Boingusboingus Not only does allowing people to live where they like cause damage to local cultures, but it places unforeseen strain on some areas, while other areas lose labour. On the other hand, people need jobs and often they need to move house because of this. Then again in many rural parts of the UK, house prices are driven up by rich people from the cities buying up or renting all the cottages as holiday homes. They have that problem in the area where my Dad was brought up (the NE of...

[@robsargent4]

@rheghead That explains it then.

[@HooHeeHaHa]

One of the many English accents.

[@imnotgivingmynametou]

This was the 1960's..

[@MrDarudin]

@kaydeeinsaudi Not to mention the T word that gave half of the UK a "coup the grace " in terms of economic viability ....

[@Abshenonas]

I wonder what accent the Cornish had when they spoke their own language

[@anandaa6810]

British or Breton Welsh Anglican Commonwealth: Australia and Canada Americans (Breton + Welsh creole).

[@WELLBRAN]

@TheLizardKing1967 Sorry I do not know what you are eferring to "what" lives in the tide areas of Virginia?

[@jexplink]

Beautiful. Meur ras :-)

[@3tangle3]

@kaydeeinsaudi yeah but the english government never help our cornish fisheries out and we actually got funding from the EU,,,,,,,live here and you know that england hasnt been the beat of friends

[@digitallurke7710]

And remember CORNWALL IS NOT ENGLAND!

[@washingtonredskin6574]

sounds like canadians in newfoundland, nova scotia. also fishermen.

[@stevelawson7595]

Washington Redskin similar accent\different ancestry.

[@jackj6457]

Newfoundland was an independent Dominion of the British Empire, and we're very proud of our West County Heritage In other words we see ourselves as British Newfoundland rather than British Canadian

[@lyndseykramer]

Then those colonists were Cornish and Irish, not actually English were they? In actually fact, probably trying to escape said English for an independent life?

[@backfromcuba]

bgm :(

[@davidbrooksbank7444]

Great film, dreadful music

[@GenyoSevdaliya]

@kaydeeinsaudi You are right. Countries which enter EU loose greatly their culture and customs!

[@jonnyhead]

Weird music for this video😄

[@dan892k7]

... but you're not different to us, we're all from England. What are you on about?

[@Chloe-xu5zz]

Cornwall is different to England u idiot

[@p.istaker8862]

@@Chloe-xu5zz Not anymore, it's just another part of New Surrey.

[@sarahstrong7174]

@@p.istaker8862 New Surrey. God help us all.

[@petemcneil4973]

get rid of the shite music and justice will be done!!

[@lancebaker3132]

RUBBISH!!! The loud background music ruins it. we cannot hear the tiny bit of spoken language.

[@gatheringleaves]

Don't some people till speak Cornish, or is it a dead language?

[@WELLBRAN]

Looe is not like that anymore

[@Boingusboingus]

There is a solution to the housing crisis for native Cornish people, but the government will never institute it because they are wedded to the ridiculous, liberal, free-market notion that people should be allowed to live where they like. To protect local and regional cultures, only people born in an area, or with a parent born in an area, or who have lived in an area for twenty years and, if appropriate, have learned its language, should be allowed to buy property there. They do it on Jersey!

[@WELLBRAN]

Talking of white and nonn white is comical really as English white people despise us Cornish when we tell them we are different to them...so funny.

[@johntrevena4280]

terrible soundtrack!!!

[@mikesaunders4775]

Intrusive music detracts from the films purpose. A' cocaine' decision?

[@cadian101st]

Cornish, not english.

[@gatheringleaves]

yeah as if there was no crime in London before Africans and Jamaicans started immigrating there, get a life really. Have you ever read or seen Oliver Twist? That story takes place in Nineteenth Century London by the way

[@geraldswain3259]

WTF is with the music , it has totally spoilt a good video !!...You can't hear those lovely Cornish tones because of the crap music .Will these video posters never learn ! .

[@cadian101st]

No, British, not English. Separate kingdoms.