LISKEARD  , a

market town and municipal borough in the Bodmin parliamentary division of Cornwall, England, 15 M . W.N.W. of Plymouth, on the Great Western and the Liskeard and Looe railways . Pop . (loot) 4010 . It lies high, above two small valleys opening to that of the Looe river, in a hilly, picturesque district . The Perpendicular church of St Martin, with a tower of earlier date, having a Norman arch, is one of the largest ecclesiastical buildings in the county . The site of a castle built by Richard, brother of Henry III. and earl of Cornwall, is occupied by public gardens . At the grammar school, Wolcot, otherwise known as Peter Pindar, was educated . Liskeard was formerly an important mining centre . Its manufactures include leather and woollen goods, and there are iron foundries . The borough is under a mayor, 4 aldermen and 12 councillors . Area, 2704 acres .

Liskeard (Liscarret) was at the

time of the Domesday Survey an important manor with a mill rendering 12d. yearly and a market rendering 4s . By the Conqueror it had been given to the count of Mortain by whom it was held in demesne . Ever since that time it has passed with the earldom or duchy of Cornwall . The fertility of its soil and the river Looe probably led to early settlement at Liskeard . Richard, king of the Romans, recognized its natural advantages and built the manor house or castle and resided there occasionally . In 1240 he constituted Liskeard a free borough and its burgesses freemen with all the liberties enjoyed by the burgesses of Launceston and Helston . In 1266 he granted fairs at the Feasts of the Assumption and St Matthew . His son Edmund earl of Cornwall in 1275 granted to the burgesses for a yearly rent of £18 (sold by William III. to Lord Somers) the borough in fee farm with its mills, tolls, fines and pleas, pleas of the crown excepted . Liskeard was made a coinage town for tin in 1304 . Edward the Black Prince secured to the burgesses in 1355 immunity from pleas outside their franchise for trespass done within the borough . Queen Elizabeth granted a charter of incorporation in 1580 under which there were to be a mayor, recorder and eight councillors . This charter was surrendered to Charles II. in 168o and a new one granted by his brother under which the corporation became a self-elected body .

From 1295 to 1832 Liskeard sent two members to the House of

Commons . The parliamentary franchise, at first exercised by the burgesses, was vested by James' charter in the corporation and freemen . By determining to admit no new freemen the voters became reduced to between 30 and 6o . Sir Edward Coke was returned for this borough in 1620, and Edward Gibbon the historian in 1774 . In 1832 Liskeard was deprived of one of its members and in 1885 it became merged in the county . Besides the fairs already mentioned a third was added by Elizabeth's charter to be held on Ascension Day . These are still among the most considerable cattle fairs in the county . The same charter ratified a market on Mondays and provided for another on Saturdays . The latter is now held weekly, the former twice a month . The flour mill at Lamellion mentioned in the charter of 1275, and probably identical with the mill of the Domesday Survey, is still driven by water .