Lyme Regis
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|---|---|
 Lyme Regis from the Cobb | |
 Coat of arms of Lyme Regis | |
  Lyme Regis Location withinDorset | |
| Population | 3,671 (2011)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SY337922 |
| • London | 135 miles (217 km)ENE |
| Civil parish |
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| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LYME REGIS |
| Postcode district | DT7 |
| Dialling code | 01297 |
| Police | Dorset |
| Fire | Dorset and Wiltshire |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Love Lyme Regis |
| 50°43′30″N2°56′7″W / 50.72500°N 2.93528°W /50.72500; -2.93528 | |
Lyme Regis (/ˌlaɪmˈriːdʒɪs/LYMEREE-jiss) is a town in westDorset, England, 25 miles (40 km) west ofDorchester and east ofExeter. Sometimes dubbed the "Pearl of Dorset",[3] it lies by theEnglish Channel at the Dorset–Devon border. It has notedfossils in cliffs and beaches on theJurassic Coast, aWorld Heritage Site andheritage coast. The harbour wall, known as The Cobb, appears inJane Austen's novelPersuasion, theJohn Fowles novelThe French Lieutenant's Woman and the 1981film of that name, partly shot in the town.
A former mayor and MP was Admiral SirGeorge Somers, who founded the English colonial settlement of Somers Isles, nowBermuda, where Lyme Regis is twinned withSt George's. In July 2015, Lyme Regis joinedJamestown, Virginia in a Historic Atlantic Triangle with St George's. The2011 census gave the urban area a population of 4,712, estimated at 4,805 in 2019.[4]
InSaxon times, the abbots ofSherborne Abbey had salt-boiling rights on land adjacent to theRiver Lym,[5] and the abbey once owned part of the town.[6] Lyme is mentioned in theDomesday Book of 1086. In the 13th century, it developed as one of the major British ports. Aroyal charter was granted byKing Edward I in 1284 when"Regis" was added to the town's name. The charter was confirmed by QueenElizabeth I in 1591.
John Leland visited in the 16th century and described Lyme as "a praty market town set in the rootes of an high rokky hille down to the hard shore. There cummith a shalow broke from the hilles about a three miles by north, and cummith fleting on great stones through a stone bridge in the bottom."[6]
In 1644, during theEnglish Civil War,Parliamentarians withstood aneight-week siege of the town byRoyalist forces underPrince Maurice.The Duke of Monmouth landed at Lyme Regis at the start of theMonmouth Rebellion in 1685.
Lyme grew in size as a result of seaside tourism in the 18th century bought about by new purported health benefits of the sea air/taking the waters,[7] and the establishment of theturnpike road system. The town then benefited at the expense of continental destinations during theNapoleonic wars when wealthy tourists were unable to travel abroad. This led notable people includingJane Austen to visit,[8] who set part of her final novelPersuasion in the town;[9] and quoted the place as her "happiest spot for watching the flow of the tide."[10]
Between 1811 and her death in 1847Mary Anning, a geological pioneer, found and identifiedJurassic marine reptile fossils in cliffs to the east of Lyme Regis.[11]
On New Year's Day, 1915,HMS Formidable was torpedoed, the first major U-boat kill of World War I. A local lifeboat delivered bodies to thePilot Boat Inn in Bridge Street.Lassie, the owner's dog, licked the face of Seaman Cowan, who was believed dead, and seemingly brought him back to life. The namesake of this cross-breed became a legend of books, radio, film and television.[12]
In 1965, thetown's railway station was closed under theBeeching Axe. The station was dismantled and rebuilt atAlresford, on theMid Hants Watercress Railway in Hampshire. The route to Lyme Regis was notable for being operated by aged Victorian locomotives. One of theseAdams Radial Tank engines is now preserved on theBluebell Railway in Sussex. A West Country Class steam locomotive No. 34009 was named "Lyme Regis" after the town.
In 2005, one event to mark the bicentenary ofAdmiral Nelson's victory at theBattle of Trafalgar was a re-enactment of the arrival of the news aboard theBermuda sloopHMS Pickle. The actor playing the part of LieutenantJohn Richards Lapenotière, the Trafalgar messenger, was welcomed at Lyme Regis.
Lyme Regis is a coastal town in WestDorset, 25 miles (40 km) west ofDorchester and 25 miles (40 km) east ofExeter. It lies inLyme Bay, on theEnglish Channel coast at the Dorset–Devon border. At the2011 census, it had a population of 3,671. The town has grown around the mouth of theRiver Lim (or Lym) which drops from a plateau at an altitude of about 200 m (660 ft) before flowing around 5–6 km (3–4 mi) south and south-east to the sea. Its name is of British origin and probably cognate with theWelshllif meaning flood or stream.[13] Historically there were mills along its length. Its lower reaches coincide with sections of three recreational footpaths: theWessex Ridgeway,Liberty Trail andEast Devon Trail.[14]
The town's beaches and cliffs are noted forfossils. They form part of the localHeritage Coast and the more extensive coastalWorld Heritage Site, commonly referred to as theJurassic Coast – stretching for 153 kilometres (95 mi) fromOrcombe Point nearExmouth in the west toOld Harry Rocks in the east.[15] The coastal exposures provide a continuous sequence ofTriassic,Jurassic andCretaceous rock formations spanning some 185 million years of the Earth's history. Localities along the Jurassic Coast include a range of important fossil zones.
TheBlue Lias andCharmouth Mudstonegeological formations host a multitude of remains from theEarly Jurassic, from which epoch good fossil records are rare.[16] Many remains are well preserved, including complete specimens of important species. Many of the earliest discoveries ofdinosaur and other prehistoric reptile remains were made in the area around Lyme Regis, notably those discovered byMary Anning (1799–1847). Significant finds includeIchthyosaurus,Plesiosaurus,Dimorphodon,Scelidosaurus (one of the firstarmoured dinosaurs) andDapedium. The town holds an annual Mary Anning Day and Lyme Regis Fossil Festival. A fossil of the world's largest moth was discovered there in 1966.
To the south-west are Poker's Pool, Seven Rock Point andPinhay Bay and to the north-east isCharmouth. The coast is subject tolandslips that expose the Jurassic-age fossils to be found on the beaches. "The Dowlands Landslip" occurred on 24 December 1839, 3 miles (4.8 km) west along the coast in Devon, in an area belonging to Bindon Manor. About 45 acres (18 ha) of wheat and turnip fields were dislodged when a great chasm more than 300 feet (91 m) across, 160 feet (49 m) deep and 0.75 miles (1.21 km) long was formed. The crops remained intact on the top of what became known as "Goat Island" among the newly formed gullies. On 3 February 1840 a smaller landslip occurred nearby. The phenomenon attracted many visitors, and farmers charged sixpence to view it.[17] The area is now known asThe Undercliff and is of interest for its diverse natural history.
Landslides continued to cause problems in the area into the 21st century.[18] In 2005, work began on a £16 million engineering project to stabilise the cliffs and protect the town fromcoastal erosion.[19] The town's main beach was relaid and reopened on 1 July 2006. On the evening of 6 May 2008, a 400 metres (1,300 ft) section of land slipped onto the beach between Lyme Regis and Charmouth. Police described the landslip as the "worst in 100 years".[20] It called for diverting theSouth West Coast Path inland between Lyme Regis and Charmouth via the Lyme Regis Golf Course.
In the2011 census, the town's parish had 2,431 dwellings,[21] 1,770 households[22] and a population of 3,671.[1]
The population of the parish in the censuses between 1921 and 2011 is shown in the table below:
| Census Population of Lyme Regis Parish 1921–2011(except 1941) | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Census | 1921 | 1931 | 1951 | 1961 | 1971 | 1981 | 1991 | 2001 | 2011 | |||||
| Population | 2,882 | 2,620 | 3,200 | 3,526 | 3,400 | 3,450 | 3,760 | 3,530 | 3,671 | |||||
| Source: Dorset County Council[23] | ||||||||||||||
The 2012 mid-year estimate for the population of the parish was 3,637.[24]
Lyme Regis railway station served the town between 1903 and 1965; it was a stop on theLyme Regis branch line toAxminster. The nearest National Rail station is now at Axminster, 6 miles (10 km) away,[25] withSouth Western Railway services toLondon Waterloo,Salisbury andExeter St Davids.[26]
Bus services are operated predominantly byFirst Hampshire & Dorset, with routes connecting the town to Axminster station, Beer, Bridport, Seaton and Weymouth.[27]
The parish church of St Michael the Archangel, above Church Cliff, dominates the old town. Dating from the 12th century, it was originally a tripartite structure with an axial tower.Transepts were added in about 1200 and twoaisles in the 13th century. A new church was built east of the tower and transepts early in the 16th century and the oldchancel and aisles removed. The old nave was shortened in the 19th century.[28]
Mary Anning is buried there and commemorated in a stained-glass window provided by members of theGeological Society of London, an organisation that did not admit women until 1904.
The Baptist church was founded in 1653 and has been on the same site since 1699.[29] Bethany Chapel, an independent Evangelical (Christian Brethren) church, celebrated its centenary in 2014.[30]
The Boat Building Academy, aregistered charity[31] runs courses in traditional boatbuilding and furniture making from its site at Monmouth Beach.[32]
There are two tiers of local government covering Lyme Regis, atparish (town) andunitary authority level: Lyme Regis Town Council andDorset Council. The town council meets at theGuildhall on Bridge Street, which was completed in 1889.[33] The town council's offices are at the nearby Guildhall Cottage on Church Street.[34]
Lyme Regis was anancient borough, with the earliest knowncharter dating from 1284. Until 1604 the borough only covered a small part of the parish; in that year the borough was extended to match the parish.[35] The borough was reformed to become amunicipal borough in 1836 under theMunicipal Corporations Act 1835. The municipal borough was abolished in 1974 to become part of the new district ofWest Dorset. The modern town council was created as asuccessor parish council for the old borough at the same time.
West Dorset was abolished in 2019 under the2019 structural changes to local government in England, when Dorset Council was established as a unitary authority. Since then, Lyme Regis has been part of theLyme and Charmouth ward which elects one member to Dorset Council.[36]
Lyme Regis is part of theWest Dorset constituency for elections to theHouse of Commons of the United Kingdom. From 1295 to 1868 it was covered by theLyme Regis constituency
The first record of the Cobb, the town's harbour wall, is in a 1328 document[37] describing it as having been damaged by storms.[38][39] It was made of oak piles driven into the seabed, with boulders stacked between. The boulders had been floated into place, tied between empty barrels. A 1685 account describes it as, "an immense mass of stone, of a shape of a demi-lune, with a bar in the middle of the concave: no one stone that lies there was ever touched with a tool or bedded in any sort of cement, but all the pebbles of the see are piled up, and held by their bearings only, and the surge plays in and out through the interstices of the stone in a wonderful manner."[40] The Cobb wall provides a breakwater to shield the town from storms and separateMonmouth and Cobb Gate beaches.
The Cobb had economic importance in and around the town, creating an artificial harbour that enabled the town to develop as a port and shipbuilding centre from the 13th century onwards. Shipbuilding was significant between 1780 and 1850; nearly 100 ships were launched, including the 12-gun Royal Navy brig HMSSnap.[41] Well-sited for trade with France, the port's most prosperous period was from the 16th century until the end of the 18th. In 1780, the port was larger than thePort of Liverpool but its importance declined in the 19th century, as it could not handle ships of increasing size.
The Cobb has been destroyed or damaged by storms several times; it was swept away in 1377, along with 50 boats and 80 houses. The southern arm was added in the 1690s and rebuilt in 1793 after it was destroyed in a storm the previous year. It is thought thatmortar was used in the Cobb's construction for the first time in this rebuilding. It was reconstructed in 1820 usingPortland Admiralty Roach, a type ofPortland stone. After theGreat Storm of 1824, Captain SirRichard Spencer RN carried out pioneering lifeboat design work in Cobb harbour. The currentLyme Regis Lifeboat Station was opened in 1997.[42]
Open since the late 1950s, Lyme Regis Marine Aquarium occupies an early 18th-century stone building on the Cobb harbour wall. The aquarium showcases some of the abundant local sea life and offers insight into Lyme's rich maritime history.
Visitors have opportunities to hand-feed a shoal of tameThicklip grey mullet, stroke a lobster, and hold a starfish. Other exhibits includeweaver fish,wrasse,blenny,sea mice and crustaceans, including hermit crab.[43]
Town Mill, awatermill dating from 1340, has been restored to working order and produces flour.[44] It is powered by water from the River Lym via a leat running along alynch. TheDomesday Book records a mill at Lyme in 1086, so the site could be much older. Town Mill Brewery opened in part of the mill in March 2010.[45]
Near the Town Mill, on the site of an old chapel dedicated to St Mary and the Holy Spirits, is the "Lepers' Well". In medieval times "leper" was used as a general description of skin diseases, not necessarily leprosy. A hospital that stood on the site 700 years ago is commemorated by a plaque on the wall of the well.[46] The well water still runs, but probably at a reduced rate. The land was left untouched for many years before it was landscaped as a visitors' garden in the 1970s.
The frontage of theThree Cups Hotel in Broad Street dates from 1807. It is believed thatJane Austen stayed in Hiscott's Boarding House on the same site in 1804.[47] Since then the hotel has accommodatedAlfred Lord Tennyson,Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,Hilaire Belloc,G. K. Chesterton andJ. R. R. Tolkien, who spent several holidays there. In 1944General Eisenhower delivered an important briefing beforeD-Day to senior Allied officers in its first-floor lounge. It was used as a setting in the filmThe French Lieutenant's Woman in 1981. The owners, Palmers Brewery of Bridport, closed the hotel in May 1990 and put forward plans to demolish the significantly historic rear of the building and replace it with retail units, a restaurant, and visitor and private accommodation.[48]
TheRoyal Lion Hotel is a former coaching inn dating from the first decade of the 17th century. It is reputedly haunted; many allegedectoplasms have been sighted in the corridors and cold spots.[49]
On 22 May 2022 a newStatue of Mary Anning was unveiled byAlice Roberts at the junction of Long Entry and Gun Cliff Walk. The statue was the result of a crowdfunded campaign ("Mary Anning Rocks") to commission and display a statue to thepaleontologistMary Anning in Lyme Regis.[50]
The museum stands on the site ofMary Anning's birthplace and family shop off Bridge Street, holding a collection of local memorabilia, historical items and exhibits to explain the local geological andpalaeontological treasures. It was formerly known as the Philpot Museum.[51] Set into the pavement outside the museum is an example ofCoade stone work, in the form ofammonites, reflecting the palaeontology for which the town is famous. It commemoratesEleanor Coade, who had an 18th-century artificial stone factory in London and a seaside home, Belmont House, in the town.
TheDinosaurland Fossil Museum is in the former church where Mary Anning was baptised.
Thanksgiving Day has been held since Parliament decreed, at the end of theEnglish Civil War, as a day of celebration and prayer in Lyme to mark its victory over the long siege of the town by Royalist forces. The celebration includes residents dressed in period costume to parade through the streets.
Annual events include the Lyme Regis Carnival and Regatta, theLyme Regis Fossil Festival (in conjunction with the LondonNatural History Museum), andMary Anning Day. The traditionalconger cuddling event takes place during Lifeboat Week. The carnival and regatta, organised by volunteers, take place over a week in August, as does the Lyme Regis Gig Club regatta.
Bonfire night celebrations include a torchlight procession, a bonfire on the beach and a firework display. A Christmas Tree Festival has more than 30 trees decorated and displayed in Lyme Regis Baptist Church. An Easter bonnet parade takes place in the town on Easter Sunday. A May Day fête features stalls and entertainment from various groups in Lyme.
Lyme Regis is the home of B Sharp, a music charity for young people.[52] It runs music workshops, performances and training, and signposts progression routes beyond B Sharp. It also runs an annual Busking Festival open to all performing artists, now in May, and an open air "Big Mix" festival in July to present music-making by young people.
The Marine Theatre, operated by the charity Lymearts Community Trust, stages a variety of live events.[53]
In 2012 graffiti artistBanksy stenciled an origami crane on a wall adjacent to the River Lym at the intersection of Mill and Coombe Streets.[54]
Local TV coverage is provided byBBC South West andITV West Country. Television signals are received from theStockland Hill TV transmitter and the local relay transmitter situated inCharmouth.[55]
Local radio stations areBBC Radio Solent,Heart West,Wessex FM, and Lyme Bay Radio, a community based station.[56]
The town is served by the local newspaper,Bridport & Lyme Regis News.[57]
The Cobb featured inJane Austen's novelPersuasion (1818), and in the1960 television miniseries,1971 TV series,1995 film,2007 film and2022 film based on the novel. The poetTennyson is said to have gone straight to the Cobb on arrival, saying, "Show me the exact spot where Louisa Musgrove fell!".[58] The Cobb also featured in the 1981 filmThe French Lieutenant's Woman, based on the 1969novel of the same name byJohn Fowles.[59] The town was used in filmingAll Over the Town (1949), under the name "Tormouth".
The town community is portrayed in disguise inThe Earl's Granddaughter (1895) byGeorgina Castle Smith, writing as Emma.[60] It also features inA. S. Byatt'sBooker Prize-winning 1990 novelPossession and the 2002film adapted from it. Lyme Regis is the setting for much of the historical novelRemarkable Creatures byTracy Chevalier, of which fossil hunterMary Anning is a protagonist.
Lyme Regis is the setting and filming location of a 2020 filmAmmonite, starringKate Winslet asMary Anning alongsideSaoirse Ronan andFiona Shaw.[61] The 2023 filmWonka, starringTimothée Chalamet, was filmed in Lyme Regis.[62]
Lyme Regis Football Club, known as the Seasiders, was formed in 1885. Its three senior and five junior teams play at the Davey Fort Ground in Charmouth Road. The seniors play in theDevon and Exeter Football League andPerry Street and District League. In its 125th anniversary year, 2010,Tony Cottee (a formerWest Ham,Everton and England striker) was made club patron.[citation needed]
In birth order:
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