Liskeard (/lɪˈskɑːrd/ ⓘ lih-SKARD; Cornish: Lyskerrys[2]) is an ancient stannary and market town in south-east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.

[8] Sir Richard Carew writing in 1602 concurred; Of later times, the Castle serued the Earle of Cornwall for one of his houses; but now, that later is worm-eaten out of date and vse.

Coynages, Fayres, and markets, (as vitall spirits in a decayed bodie) keepe the inner partes of the towne aliue, while the ruyned skirtes accuse the iniurie of time, and the neglect of industrie.

[13] The town went through a period of economic prosperity during the pre-20th century boom in tin mining, becoming a key centre in the industry as a location for a stannary and coinage.

The Members of Parliament (MPs) have included Edward Gibbon, author of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and Isaac Foot.

[22] Liskeard is part of the South East Cornwall constituency, represented by a Labour Member of Parliament, Anna Gerald in the House of Commons.

For a time it was maintained by the Earls of St Germans, but it closed around 1834 due to a decline in numbers and financial difficulties.

[24] Liskeard County Secondary School received its first pupils on Monday 12 September 1960, and was formally opened by the Minister of Education, Sir David Eccles on 7 July the following year.

Its glass and steel structure made "free use of fresh air and sunlight" according to local newspaper reports, whilst other modern features included a well-equipped gymnasium, automated central heating and synchronised clocks across the school, operated from the secretary's office.

[28] Twenty years later, with increased pupil numbers requiring many to be taught in temporary buildings, the need for improvements to Liskeard's secondary and primary schools was being raised in Parliament.

[29] By the late 1990s, Liskeard School and Community College had been extended at Luxstowe, and the Old Road site closed and redeveloped for housing.

As Cornwall's only school with an engineering speciality,[30] it now caters for approximately 1300 students aged between 11 and 19, and employs around 200 teaching and non-teaching, full- and part-time staff.

It also has a creche, a teenage advice and information service, a centre for children with autism, and facilities at Moorswater where some engineering-based courses are taught.

Liskeard railway station, on the London Paddington to Penzance Cornish Main Line, and the A38 trunk road provide the town with rapid access to Plymouth, the rest of Cornwall and the motorway network.

Live music and various theatrical events frequently take place in the unusual but acoustically good Carnglaze Caverns just to the north.