John Wesley's journey across Cornwall

'Guiding angel clearing the path through scrub and moor'

Quote from John Allen's book " The History Of The Borough Of Liskeard" John Wesley travelled through the county of Cornwall on thirty-one occasions between 1743 and 1789 visiting Liskeard six times. In John Wesley's Journal, September 1751, he says, "I preached at St, Cleer in the afternoon, about two miles from Liskeard, and next morning a mile nearer the town." On September 27th, he wrote "We rode to Liskeard, I think one of the pleasantest towns in Cornwall. I preached about the middle of the town, in a broad, convenient place (probably at the Bull Post on what is now the Parade). No person made any noise at all. At six in the morning, I had nearly the same congregation." Wesley visited Liskeard on five subsequent occasions-in 1760, in 1765, in 1775, in 1785, and finally in 1787, when he wrote "I did not design to preach at Liskeard, but finding a few people gathered together, I gave them a short discourse" -again on the Parade. Most significant was his visit on September 7th, 1775, when he preached in the Town Hall, "to a large and serious congregation," and when he died in March 1791, a funeral sermon in remembrance of him was also preached in the Town Hall. Evidently Methodism was becoming a movement to be reckoned with in Liskeard.