1000 Year Old Mass Path Leading To Ladye Park Liskeard

A Memory of Liskeard.

In 1955, I was living in Truro. My father, Mr Riche, was a bank manager and used to travel all over Cornwall on business. Sometimes I would go with him during school holidays and went for a walk while he visited his client.

One day he asked me whether I would like to go to Liskeard where there was an old mysterious farmhouse with lots of history about it, because, until the Reformation, it had been a thriving pilgrimage spot. Now it was just a farm, but there was a little footpath, which had probably been there 1000 years, winding its way from the top road to lower road. I might like to go down. I decided to go with him. He dropped me at the top of the path and drove on.

Walking down that "mass path "as it was still called,, because pilgrims used to descend it to Mass, was an experience, I will never forget. I felt it a cross between something from Babes in the Wood, red, Riding Hood, and Lord of the rings, as I slowly descended the rocky path, between two high hedges, being careful, not to fall. I felt as though I was the only person in the world. Then suddenly the path opened out, and I saw a rickety gate and a bridge over a stream, leading to the old farmhouse Ladye Park. I remember standing perfectly still, despite being only 10, feeling that there was something unworldly, or supernatural about the place.

I never forgot that experience, and still, when I return to Cornwall, I descend that "mass path "and once more find myself momentarily suspended between heaven and earth.

---

---