Liskeard Show 2018 E


ARLY in 1883 one or two local farmers got together to discuss starting a fat stock show. A public meeting followed, at which it was decided to hold an exhibition of breeding stock instead.


This was the beginning of the Liskeard and District Agricultural Association, and its first show was held on Tuesday 24 July 1883, in fields at Barras Cross.


The show had classes for cattle of the Devon and Shorthorn breeds, for any other distinct breed and for dairy cows.


There were classes for sheep, pigs and horses including thoroughbred stallions, agricultural horses, hacks, hunters, ponies and jumpers.


By early July, the Association invited tenders for ‘the privilege of being allowed to put up a grandstand in the show ground and the taking of all receipts connection therewith.’


Tenders were also sought for the fixing of horse boxes, posts and rails for the cattle and for the horse rings, a band stand for 20 and a supply of grass for fodder for the show.


The Association had three honorary secretaries Messrs George Glencross, Philip Trevail and John Bone.


George Glencross was 27 years old. He lived, according to the 1881 census at Luxstowe House (once the headquarters for Caradon District Council and now a regional office for Cornwall Council), with his parents James and Ann together with his four sisters and five servants.


Philip Trevail was 41 and farming 170 acres at Lower Trengale, Dobwalls, St Cleer, where he lived with his wife and five children. He employed a man and boy to assist on the farm.


John Bone lived on The Parade, Liskeard, with his brothers Samuel, a banker and Lewis who farmed 45 acres and his sister Anne.


Show President was the Earl of St Germans, possibly still occupying his Liskeard home latterly known as the Lord Elliot Hotel. Vice


Presidents were Messrs T R Bolitho, of Penalverne, Penzance and L Carrington Marshall, Lewarne, St Neot.


Admission to the show was 1s (5p) up to 4pm and 6d (2p) after that. There was a public lunch costing 2s (10p) for ladies and 2s 6d (12p) for gentlemen.


There were 82 cattle at the show, an impressive total considering that this was long before the days of cattle trucks. Most would have had to be driven or led to the show, perhaps making an overnight stop on the way, which might account for the choice of Tuesday as show day.


‘In almost every class there was a fair competition,’ reported the Cornish Times in its account.


It said that Mr H Davy of North Hill, ‘who wins prizes at much larger shows’ took a prominent place in the Devons, though Mr T Dyer of Tencreek, Menheniot and Mr N Borrow of Trethinnick, St Cleer, prevented him form having it all his own way.


Entries were scarce in the Shorthorn classes, with


Mr E Crocker, Treburgey, Liskeard the most successful. Captain Fortescue of Boconnoc, Lostwithiel, brought a Jersey bull bred by Mrs Tremayne of Heligan, to win the senior bull class for other breeds. Mr J S Tucker, Pathada, Menheniot, took four first prizes with his Herefords.


A prize for a heifer was won by Richard Thomas of Higher Lux Street, Liskeard, whose daughter lived with him and was a dairywoman. Perhaps he kept cattle there and sold milk straight from the cow.


Another prizewinner from within the town was Richard Hawke, of Westbourne House (now occupied by Cornwall Council, Social Services). He took first prize for a dairy cow.


Mr Hawke was a banker, magistrate and land owner, who lived in some style with his wife and mother. They had a butler, cook, two housemaids and another domestic servant, an elderly widow who rejoiced in the


a great family day out Early Liskeard Show history name of Temperance Hollow.


Sheep were described as ‘a very fair show’. Principal prizes went to Messrs Peter Hambly, Westcott, Callington, N Toms, Bodbrane, Duloe and W. D. Lawry, Keveral, Hessenford. There were very few pigs.


The 65 horses entered attracted the most attention. The horse was still the essential power source for farming and for transport, despite the arrival of the railway into Cornwall over 20 years earlier.


Nearly every class was well-filled, though the horses were said to be of ‘very uneven merit’.


Mr R Broad, Trevillis, St Keyne, led a strong class of a dozen agricultural brood mares. Winning thoroughbred stallion ‘Thunderer’ came for Messrs Yeo, Bodmin.


The public lunch on the showground sounded a grand affair. A ‘capital spread’ was provided by Mr Venning, of the London Hotel, who held the contract for refreshments.


James Vennin, 23, ran the London Hotel with his three older sisters, all in their 20s. On the night of the 1881 census, they had only one lodger, a 24 year old cattle dealer called Edwin Pascoe, but five staff, including a groom, a ‘boots’, and a billiard marker. Later in the decade, the hotel was pulled down to make way for the Public Rooms.


The lunch must have lasted much of the afternoon, with half a dozen toasts and all the companying speeches.


Mr L Carrington Marshall, the Chairman, who was to occupy that position for 32 years, said that stock rather than corn had come to the fore. So they needed? to see how they could make stock more profitable, and that was why they had started the Association.


The Mayor, Mr W Polikinghorne, who was also the show’s finance steward, spoke of Mr Marshall as being a descendant of Mr John Connock, who had been Mayor of Liskeard 310 years earlier.


One of the secretaries, Mr Glencross, said he thought the Association had started well. It had between 300-400 members.


WHERE THE SHOW HAS BEEN HELD


The first show in 1883 was held in fields at Barras Cross and the following year it moved to


Mr Thomas White’s field at Lux Cross.


The 1885 show was in a field by the railway station. It then moved to Mr White’s field at Luxstowe and was there until 1891 when it moved to Rapson’s fields in Station Road (now a car park). A site near the station was favoured because in those days many showgoers travelled by rail.


The show appeared to be in Station Road until World War I and was there again when the show restarted in 1920. In 1921, the show was held in an eight acre field at Coldstyle, Trevecca but by 1925 had gone back to a field by Trevillis, near the railway station. It appeared to be there until World War II.


When the show restarted in 1948 after World War II, it was held at Tencreek Farm.


In 1956 it move to Tregay, Addington where it remained until 1988 as the site was sold for residential housing.


The show remains at its present site of Trengrove, Merrymeet on the outskirts of Liskeard.


This article was written by Geoff Hilton who sadly died in 2012.


He was a highly regarded member of the Association who worked tirelessly as Press Secretary for many years and who enjoyed attending the show spending many hours in the Secretary’s Tent on show day collating the results. He was President in 2011.


This year we are celebrating the 115th Liskeard and District Association Show. There were a number of years when the show didn’t take place for various reasons including foot and mouth disease and two world wars.


www.liskeardshow.org


Liskeard Show 2018 - a great family day out 21


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