Leskeard still continues a place of considerable trade, and
distinguished by its excellent market, although in relative importance
it does not maintain the station among towns in the county assigned to
it a hundred years since by Mr. Tonkin. Of late years, several persons
possessed of large properties have decorated the environs with
excellent houses; and one gentleman of the town, Mr. Lyne, has brought
home from successful trade and speculation, conducted at Lisbon by
himself and his uncles during two-thirds of a century, a fortune that
may be denominated princely. Leskeard has benefited beyond most other
towns by the recent improvements of roads, and by a canal from the
port of Looe, which affords a cheap and easy conveyance for lime, the
most important of all manures in that district.
This town has been the residence, if not the origin, of several
distinguished persons.
Dr. William Jane, Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford in the time
of Charles the Second, was from hence. And I believe that Mr. Jane,
for many years master of the grammar-school at Truro, was his nephew;
and this gentleman’s son, first a student at Christchurch, and
afterwards Rector of Iron Acton, in Gloucestershire, bore a
conspicuous part among the learned divines of his day.
From hence also originated the family of Taunton; of whom Mr. William
Elias Taunton, knighted on some occasion of the King visiting Oxford,
attained the highest eminence in that city as a legal practitioner;
and he had the satisfaction of seeing his eldest son attain the proud
situation of a judge. Of this family is also Richard Taunton, M.D.
distinguished by his eager pursuit of all scientific acquirements, as
well as by his medical skill; now resident at Truro. To this
gentleman’s liberality the Editor is indebted for the original
manuscript of Mr. Hals’ Parochial History, the foundation of this
work.
Among eminent persons residing at Leskeard, it is impossible to omit
Mr. Haydon, for many years master of the grammar-school. Of his
classical acquirements it may be sufficient to say that Dr. Cornelius
Cardew, who has been mentioned under St. Ewan, and must be again under
Truro, was his favourite scholar; but, in addition to literature, Mr.
Haydon acquired a profound knowledge of mathematics and of astronomy;
and in these, the most exact and the most noble of sciences, he was
not content with theory, and with the practical result of labours
carried on by others. Mr. Haydon provided himself with various
instruments, of a size and accuracy rarely possessed by individuals at
that period; and with those he made important observations on the
transit of Venus in June 1769; and for a long time all the longitudes
of places in the West of England were deduced from Mr. Haydon’s
determination of Leskeard. He ultimately retired to the family living
of Okeford, in Devonshire, and was succeeded in the school by Mr.
Lyne, whose grandson has been noticed for his acquisition of an
immense fortune.
A gentleman of very singular habits flourished at Leskeard through a
large portion of the eighteenth century, the last of an ancient and
respectable family, Trehawke. No one stood more prominent for ability,
knowledge of business, or for integrity; all disputes were referred to
his arbitration, and every one pressed eagerly to obtain his advice;
but habits of parsimony grew on him to such an extent, that the most
ridiculous tales were circulated of his private savings, without,
however, detracting from the estimation in which he was otherwise
held. Having decupled his fortune, he left the whole to a distant
relation, Mr. Kekewich, since Member for Exeter, a gentleman
altogether worthy of so splendid a gift.
Mr. Lysons says, “In the town of Liskeard was a nunnery of poor
Clares, founded and endowed by Richard King of the Romans,” but of
which he had not been able to obtain any further account. But this
seems to be a mistake; as Richard King of the Romans died in 1271, and
the Nuns of St. Clare were first brought into England by Blanch Queen
of Navarre, and wife of Edmund Earl of Lancaster, about twenty years
afterwards. The monastic remains appear, moreover, too magnificent for
an establishment of Nuns Minories, or Poor Clares, the female branch
of the begging monks or friars instituted by St. Francis.
The castle walls have entirely disappeared, but the elevated site is
still conspicuous; it is surrounded with trees, and the centre is
occupied by the school-house.
The church is among the largest in Cornwall, and its south wall, like
that of St. Neot, is embattled, and also ornamented by a handsome
porch. There is a tradition which describes this church as being
decorated with two towers, one on each side of the building, but taken
down in the year 1627. The existing western tower is very inferior to
the church.
The great tithes of this parish were appropriated to the Priory of
Launceston. They were granted by Queen Elizabeth to a Mr. Harris, and
they have recently been sold in parcels to the various proprietors of
land. Mr. Honey, who holds the vicarage, is also patron.
In the church are various monuments to the family of Trehawke, &c. and
one to Joseph Wadham, who died in 1707; being the last of that family,
founders of Wadham college, Oxford.
The house and the room are still shewn which were occupied by King
Charles the First in August 1644, before the surrender at Fowey of the
army commanded by Lord Essex.
Mr. Lysons gives an account of the various persons and estates in this
parish. The chief proprietors are Mr. Kekewich and Mrs. Connock. The
extensive property of the Moreheads has been entirely sold in various
lots, and their manor of Lamellian, or Lamellin, now belongs to the
Editor of this work.
The borough, made co-extensive with the parish by the Reform Act of
1832, sends one Member to Parliament.
There cannot be a question as to the first syllable in the name of
this town being les, a court, or inclosure; and the second may
probably be derived, as Mr. Tonkin conjectures, from kaer, a fortress;
but in times when every thing was referred to the French language, les
became changed into lis, and a flower-de-luce was adopted on the town
seal.
The parish measures 7126 statute acres.
Annual value of the Real Property, as £. _s._ _d._
returned to Parliament in 1815:
Borough 7077 0 0
Parish 6153 0 0
Poor Rate in 1831:
Borough 1009 7 0
Parish 801 4 0
Population, in 1801, in 1811, in 1821, in 1831,
Borough 1860 1975 2423 2853
Parish 848 909 1096 1189
――――
Together 4042,
giving an increase on the borough of 53½ per cent.; on the parish
of 42 per cent.; on both of 49 per cent. in 30 years.
Present Vicar, the Rev. T. Foote, instituted in 1821.