Liskeard Cornwall – Historic Market Town, Bodmin Moor Gateway & Looe Valley Rail Hub

LISKEARD – MARKET TOWN & GATEWAY TO BODMIN MOOR

Liskeard is an ideal base from which to explore South East Cornwall. Set at the head of the Looe Valley, it has long been an important market centre and was one of Cornwall’s original Stannary towns, where tin was assayed and taxed.

Mining played a major part in the town’s growth. In 1828 the Liskeard and Looe Union Canal opened to carry ore and stone down to Looe; the railway that replaced it survives as today’s single-track branch line along scenic wooded riverbanks – the Looe Valley Line. Liskeard station is also on the main line between London Paddington and Penzance.

Liskeard remains a lively market town full of interesting buildings: the Victorian Guildhall with its prominent clock tower; Stuart House, where Charles I lodged in 1644; the Parade fountain, given to the town by Michael Loam; the Pipe Well, an old holy well; and St Martin’s, the second largest parish church in Cornwall. The Liskeard & District Museum and the Tourist Information Office share the Foresters Hall, and there is a leisure centre with swimming pool at Lux Park.

St Cleer, King Doniert’s Stone & Trethevy Quoit

At St Cleer, on the edge of the moor, a holy well stands in a 15th-century granite baptistery; it was once used in attempts to cure the insane by repeated immersion. North of the village, King Doniert’s Stone carries a Latin inscription asking for prayers for Doniert (Dungarth), a Cornish king recorded as drowning in 875. Nearby is Trethevy Quoit, a Neolithic burial chamber of around 3500–2500 BC, where five standing stones support a capstone weighing about 20 tonnes.

Minions, the Cheesewring & the Hurlers

Once the centre of intense mining activity, Minions boasts the highest pub in Cornwall and is the setting of E. V. Thompson’s novel Chase the Wind. A century and a half ago the area teemed with miners and quarrymen seeking granite, copper and lead; today Cheesewring Quarry is quiet except for climbers. On its edge stands the Cheesewring itself, an extraordinary natural tor of precariously balanced granite slabs, said to resemble a cheese squashed in a press.

Close to the village are the three Bronze Age stone circles called The Hurlers, with two standing stones known as The Pipers nearby. The surrounding hills are dotted with burial mounds and settlements, and at Rillaton Barrow a ribbed cup of beaten gold was found beside a skeleton in a stone cist in 1837.

At Upton Cross, Sterts Theatre stages plays, music and comedy from spring to autumn, with a smaller studio open all year.

SIBLYBACK LAKE COUNTRY PARK

Siblyback reservoir was completed in 1969 to meet growing demand for water, and the lake has become a popular beauty spot and a valuable wildlife habitat. A 5 km (3 mile) surfaced path runs right around the lake, from moorland to pine forest – about 50 minutes on foot – and is popular with walkers, joggers and cyclists all year round.

The watersports centre offers activities such as kayaking, paddleboarding, canoeing, sailing and windsurfing, and there is rainbow trout fishing, a children’s play area, a café overlooking the water and a small campsite beside the lake. Parking (small charge) and toilets are on site, and the park is dog friendly.

The lake is rich in birdlife: buzzards and ravens overhead, peregrines and the occasional osprey, resident kingfishers, wildfowl all year and passage waders such as dunlin, sandpipers, curlew and whimbrel. A bird hide on the northern edge looks out over the water.

COLLIFORD, ST NEOT & GOLITHA FALLS

Colliford Lake, Cornwall’s largest reservoir, offers fishing and lakeside walks. Just to the north, Dozmary Pool is said to be where King Arthur’s sword Excalibur was received by a hand rising from the water – and where the unjust magistrate Jan Tregeagle, condemned to empty the pool with a leaking limpet shell, can still be heard howling with despair.

Further south, the village of St Neot has a remarkable church famed for its medieval stained glass, and an oak branch is fixed to its tower every Oak Apple Day (29 May), in thanks for the oak tree that hid Charles II after the Battle of Worcester. Nearby, at the head of the wooded Fowey valley, Golitha Falls is an outstanding beauty spot and a National Nature Reserve. West of St Neot, the remote hamlet of Warleggan is where the eccentric Reverend Frederick Densham is said to have preached to a congregation of cardboard figures.

Other attractions within easy reach include Carnglaze Caverns, Lanhydrock (National Trust) and the Bodmin & Wenford Railway. See more Cornwall attractions.

GOLD DIGGINGS QUARRY

Gold Diggings (or Swit) Quarry is an abandoned, flooded granite quarry on Craddock Moor, on the south-eastern edge of Bodmin Moor, west of the old Cheesewring Quarry. In a quiet, remote spot, it is popular with walkers, climbers and wild swimmers. The water is very deep and clear near the surface.

It is about a mile north-west of the Hurlers stone circles – around a 15-minute walk across the moor along the track past the Hurlers. Park in the Hurlers car park at Minions. (Grid reference: 50.52444, -4.47056.)

Safety: the water is very deep and cold even in summer, there is no lifeguard or rescue cover, and jumping from the rock edges is dangerous – please don’t. This is a remote location, so go with others and tell someone where you are going.