Lyme Regis

Lyme came to notice in 775 when the King of Wessex gave it to the Abbott of Sherborne who established a salt works here. In 1284 Edward I granted the town a charter and Lyme became royal property, hence Lyme "Regis".
Lyme Regis sent two ships to fight the Armada. One is thought to have been commanded by Sir Richard Grenville.

During the Civil War Lyme stood for Parliament. Besieged by the Royalists, it was successfully defended by Thomas Sealey and Robert Blake of Admiral-General fame.

Thomas Coram was born here. He was a sea captain and like most sailors was very fond of children. He established the Foundling Hospital, England's first major orphanage. His friend George Frederick Handel organized concerts there to help finance the enterprise.

Lyme attracts visitors. James, Duke of Monmouth landed here at the start of his ill-fated rebellion. Jane Austen wrote part of "Persuasion" here. Whistler painted the "Master Smith of Lyme" and "The Little Rose of Lyme" here and in 1903 the railway came and the Americans were here in preparation for D Day.

John Fowles' book "The French Lieutenants Woman" was filmed here, His lovely house "Belmont" has now passed to the Landmark Trust.

Combe Street used to be the main street in tudor times, indeed, until the building of lovely Georgian Broad Street. Sadly much of old Lyme was destroyed by fire as so often happened. Café Indigo in Combe Street is in one of the oldest buildings in the town.

Goods were landed by ship at the Cobb and brought by horse and cart to the Customs House at the Lyme end of the beach, the horses working untended with full equine knowledge of height and time of tide and when it was safe to go.

Mary Anning is probably Lyme's most famous child. She was born in 1799 and lived by collecting and selling fossils. She recovered and identified some exceptional examples but due to the standards of the time gained little recognition for her work, that came later and she is now recognised as the expert of her time.

Lyme is twinned with Bermuda; the island "discovered" in 1544 by another Lyme Regis man, Sir George Somers.

Lyme has its lovely theatre, high up on the sea wall below the church, it has a delightful cinema and a wonderful working mill, generating electricity now and occasionally grinding flour. It is just the place for a day out before a concert!

Please go to www.marinetheatre.com for more information about the Marine Theatre performances.

For information about the Town Mill please go to www.lymeregis.com/townmill