76-774: The Lyme Regis Fossil Festival is an annual festival held at Lyme Regis on the Jurassic Coast of East Devon and Dorset. It exists to celebrate the unique geological heritage of Lyme Regis and the Jurassic Coast and to educate the public on advances in natural environment research, and especially palaeontology. It is organised by the Lyme Regis Development Trust with major support from the Natural History Museum in London and
152-659: A World Heritage Site and heritage coast . The harbour wall, known as The Cobb, appears in Jane Austen 's novel Persuasion , the John Fowles novel The French Lieutenant's Woman and the 1981 film of that name , partly shot in the town. A former mayor and MP was Admiral Sir George Somers , who founded the English colonial settlement of Somers Isles, now Bermuda , where Lyme Regis is twinned with St George's . In July 2015, Lyme Regis joined Jamestown, Virginia in
228-458: A registered charity runs courses in traditional boatbuilding and furniture making from its site at Monmouth Beach. There are two tiers of local government covering Lyme Regis, at parish (town) and unitary authority level: Lyme Regis Town Council and Dorset Council . The town council meets at the Guildhall on Bridge Street, which was completed in 1889. The town council's offices are at
304-548: A Historic Atlantic Triangle with St George's. The 2011 census gave the urban area a population of 4,712, estimated at 4,805 in 2019. In Saxon times, the abbots of Sherborne Abbey had salt-boiling rights on land adjacent to the River Lym , and the abbey once owned part of the town. Lyme is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. In the 13th century, it developed as one of the major British ports. A royal charter
380-415: A coach pulled by four horses, a penny for an unladen horse and ten pence for a drove of 20 cows. The trustees could call on a portion of the statute duty from the parishes, either as labour or by a cash payment. The trust applied the income to pay for labour and materials to maintain the road. They were also able to mortgage future tolls to raise loans for new structures and for more substantial improvements to
456-509: A community based station. The town is served by the local newspaper, Bridport & Lyme Regis News . The Cobb featured in Jane Austen 's novel Persuasion (1818), and in the 1960 television miniseries , 1971 TV series , 1995 film , 2007 film and 2022 film based on the novel. The poet Tennyson is said to have gone straight to the Cobb on arrival, saying, "Show me the exact spot where Louisa Musgrove fell!". The Cobb also featured in
532-592: A continuous sequence of Triassic , Jurassic and Cretaceous rock formations spanning some 185 million years of the Earth's history. Localities along the Jurassic Coast include a range of important fossil zones. The Blue Lias and Charmouth Mudstone geological formations host a multitude of remains from the Early Jurassic , from which epoch good fossil records are rare. Many remains are well preserved, including complete specimens of important species. Many of
608-526: A disproportionate amount of damage to the road. The rate at which new trusts were created slowed in the early 19th century but the existing trusts were making major investments in highway improvement. The government had been directly involved in the building of military roads in Scotland following a rebellion in 1745, but the first national initiative was a scheme to aid communications with Ireland . Between 1815 and 1826 Thomas Telford undertook
684-714: A fifth of the roads in Britain; the majority being maintained by the parishes. A trust would typically be responsible for about 20 miles (32 km) of highway, although exceptions such as the Exeter Turnpike Trust controlled 147 miles (237 km) of roads radiating from the city. On the Bath Road for instance, a traveller from London to the head of the Thames Valley in Wiltshire would pass through
760-871: 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. 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
836-415: 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. The area is now known as The Undercliff and
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#1732773338171912-401: A limited term, presumably the time likely to be required to pay for the required works. Tudor statutes had placed responsibility on each parish vestry to maintain all its roads. This arrangement was adequate for roads that the parishioners used themselves but proved unsatisfactory for the principal highways that were used by long-distance travellers and waggoners. During the 17th century,
988-545: A major reorganization of the existing trusts along the London to Holyhead Road , and the construction of large sections of new road to avoid hindrances, particularly in North Wales. By 1838 the turnpike trusts in England were collecting £1.5 million per year from leasing the collection of tolls but had a cumulative debt of £7 million, mainly as mortgages. Even at its greatest extent, the turnpike system only administered
1064-514: A new Statue of Mary Anning was unveiled by Alice 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 the paleontologist Mary Anning in Lyme Regis. The museum stands on the site of Mary Anning 's birthplace and family shop off Bridge Street, holding a collection of local memorabilia, historical items and exhibits to explain
1140-726: A rising volume of traffic, or in building new sections of road. During the first three decades of the 18th century, sections of the main radial roads into London were put under the control of individual turnpike trusts. The pace at which new turnpikes were created picked up in the 1750s as trusts were formed to maintain the cross-routes between the Great Roads radiating from London. Roads leading into some provincial towns, particularly in Western England, were put under single trusts and key roads in Wales were turnpiked. In South Wales,
1216-429: A row of pikes or bars, each sharpened at one end, and attached to horizontal members which were secured at one end to an upright pole or axle, which could be rotated to open or close the gate. Pavage grants, originally made for paving the marketplace or streets of towns, began also to be used for maintaining some roads between towns in the 14th century. These grants were made by letters patent , almost invariably for
1292-536: A scale of tolls on various sorts of traffic. The toll revenue was to be used in repairing the road, however, the bill was defeated. During the following forty years, the idea of making travellers contribute to the repair of roads was raised on several occasions. Many parishes continued to struggle to find funds to repair major roads and in Hertfordshire , way wardens on behalf of the vestries stood frequent trial at quarter sessions for their failure to keep
1368-414: A section of the road, between Wadesmill , Hertfordshire; Caxton , Cambridgeshire ; and Stilton , Huntingdonshire for 11 years, the revenues so raised to be used for the maintenance of the road in their jurisdictions ( 15 Cha. 2 . c. 1). The toll-gate erected at Wadesmill was the prototype in England. Parliament then gave similar powers to the justices in other counties in England and Wales. An example
1444-489: 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." The Cobb wall provides a breakwater to shield the town from storms and separate Monmouth and Cobb Gate beaches. The Cobb had economic importance in and around
1520-550: A stone bridge in the bottom." In 1644, during the English Civil War , Parliamentarians withstood an eight-week siege of the town by Royalist forces under Prince Maurice . The Duke of Monmouth landed at Lyme Regis at the start of the Monmouth 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
1596-550: A trust was ended, there were often great celebrations as the gates were thrown open. The assets of the trust, such as tollhouses, gates and sections of surplus land beside the road were auctioned off to reduce the debt, and mortgagees were paid at whatever rate in the pound the funds would allow. The legacy of the turnpike trust is the network of roads that still form the framework of the main road system in Britain. In addition, many roadside features such as milestones and tollhouses have survived, despite no longer having any function in
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#17327733381711672-492: Is in the former church where Mary Anning was baptised. Thanksgiving Day has been held since Parliament decreed, at the end of the English 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,
1748-401: Is of interest for its diverse natural history. Landslides continued to cause problems in the area into the 21st century. In 2005, work began on a £16 million engineering project to stabilise the cliffs and protect the town from coastal erosion . 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
1824-744: Is part of the West Dorset constituency for elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom . From 1295 to 1868 it was covered by the Lyme Regis constituency The first record of the Cobb, the town's harbour wall, is in a 1328 document describing it as having been damaged by storms. 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
1900-694: Is powered by water from the River Lym via a leat running along a lynch . The Domesday 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. 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
1976-482: Is shown in the table below. The 2012 mid-year estimate for the population of the parish is 3,637. 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 two aisles in the 13th century. A new church was built east of the tower and transepts early in
2052-582: Is the first Turnpike Act for Surrey, the Surrey and Sussex Highways Act 1696 ( 8 & 9 Will. 3 . c. 15), during the reign of William III for enhanced repairs between Reigate in Surrey and Crawley in Sussex. The act made provision to erect turnpikes , and appoint toll collectors; also to appoint surveyors, who were authorized by order of the justices to borrow money at five per cent interest, on security of
2128-780: The English Channel coast at the Dorset– Devon border. At the 2011 census , it had a population of 3,671. The town has grown around the mouth of the River 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 the Welsh llif meaning flood or stream. Historically there were mills along its length. Its lower reaches coincide with sections of three recreational footpaths:
2204-690: The Lyme Regis Fossil Festival (in conjunction with the London Natural History Museum ), and Mary Anning Day. The traditional conger 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
2280-486: The Wessex Ridgeway , Liberty Trail and East Devon Trail . The town's beaches and cliffs are noted for fossils . They form part of the local Heritage Coast and the more extensive coastal World Heritage Site , commonly referred to as the Jurassic Coast – stretching for 153 kilometres (95 mi) from Orcombe Point near Exmouth in the west to Old Harry Rocks in the east. The coastal exposures provide
2356-666: The town's railway station was closed under the Beeching Axe . The station was dismantled and rebuilt at Alresford , on the Mid Hants Watercress Railway in Hampshire. The route to Lyme Regis was notable for being operated by aged Victorian locomotives. One of these Adams Radial Tank engines is now preserved on the Bluebell Railway in Sussex. A West Country Class steam locomotive No. 34009
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2432-582: The 16th century and the old chancel and aisles removed. The old nave was shortened in the 19th century. Mary Anning is buried there and commemorated in a stained-glass window provided by members of the Geological 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. Bethany Chapel, an independent Evangelical (Christian Brethren) church, celebrated its centenary in 2014. The Boat Building Academy,
2508-625: The 1870s it was feasible for Parliament to close the trusts progressively without leaving an unacceptable financial burden on local communities. From 1871, all applications for renewal were sent to the Turnpike Trust Commission. This arranged for existing acts to continue, but with the objective of discharging the debt, and returning the roads to local administration, which was by then by highway boards . The Local Government Act 1888 gave responsibility for maintaining main roads to county councils and county borough councils. When
2584-493: The 18th and 19th centuries. At the peak, in the 1830s, over 1,000 trusts administered around 30,000 miles (48,000 km) of turnpike road in England and Wales, taking tolls at almost 8,000 toll-gates and side-bars. During the early 19th century the concept of the turnpike trust was adopted and adapted to manage roads within the British Empire (Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, and South Africa) and in
2660-520: The 1981 film The French Lieutenant's Woman , based on the 1969 novel of the same name by John Fowles . The town was used in filming All Over the Town (1949), under the name "Tormouth". The town community is portrayed in disguise in The Earl's Granddaughter (1895) by Georgina Castle Smith , writing as Emma. It also features in A. S. Byatt 's Booker Prize -winning 1990 novel Possession and
2736-465: The 2002 film adapted from it. Lyme Regis is the setting for much of the historical novel Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier , of which fossil hunter Mary Anning is a protagonist. Turnpike trust Turnpike trusts were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament , with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal roads in Britain from the 17th but especially during
2812-504: The A5) in the 1820s reduced the journey time of the London mail coach from 45 hours to just 27 hours, and the best mail coach speeds rose from 5-6 mph (8–10 km/h) to 9-10 mph (14–16 km/h). McAdam and his sons were employed as general surveyors (consultant engineers) to many of the main turnpike trusts in southern England. They recommended the building of new sections of road to avoid obstructions, eased steep slopes and directed
2888-471: 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 tame Thicklip grey mullet , stroke a lobster, and hold a starfish. Other exhibits include weaver fish , wrasse , blenny , sea mice and crustaceans, including hermit crab. Town Mill, a watermill dating from 1340, has been restored to working order and produces flour. It
2964-543: The Jurassic Coast team. It was the idea of Dr Paul Davis of the Natural History Museum who worked with Marcus Dixon of the Lyme Regis Development Trust and Liz-Anne Bawden of the Lyme Regis Museum to establish the first one in 2005 and since then it has regularly occurred over the early May Bank Holiday Weekend. The festival includes a wide range of activities run primarily by scientists from
3040-477: The London Olympic Games. Lyme Regis Lyme Regis ( / ˌ l aɪ m ˈ r iː dʒ ɪ s / LYME REE -jiss ) is a town in west Dorset , England, 25 miles (40 km) west of Dorchester and east of Exeter . Sometimes dubbed the "Pearl of Dorset", it lies by the English Channel at the Dorset– Devon border. It has noted fossils in cliffs and beaches on the Jurassic Coast ,
3116-420: The Natural History Museum, various universities, and scientific societies. There are also guided fossil collecting walks, scientific talks, a wide range of stalls run by fossil preparators and collectors, and related art events such as a replica of a Victorian iguanodon . In 2007 the festival hosted a UNESCO Youth Climate Change Summit and in 2012 the festival formed part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad linked to
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3192-612: The Old North Road in a good state of repair. In 1656 the parish of Radwell, Hertfordshire petitioned their local sessions for help to maintain their section of the Great North Road. Probably as a result judges on the Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire circuit represented the matter to Parliament, it then passed an act that gave the local justices of the peace powers to erect toll-gates on
3268-567: The United States. Turnpikes declined with the coming of the railways and then the Local Government Act 1888 gave responsibility for maintaining main roads to county councils and county borough councils. The term "turnpike" originates from the similarity of the gate used to control access to the road, to the barriers once used to defend against attack by cavalry (see cheval de frise ). The turnpike consisted of
3344-550: The beach between Lyme Regis and Charmouth. Police described the landslip as the "worst in 100 years". It called for diverting the South West Coast Path inland between Lyme Regis and Charmouth via the Lyme Regis Golf Course. In the 2011 census the town's parish had 2,431 dwellings, 1,770 households and a population of 3,671. The population of the parish in the censuses between 1921 and 2011
3420-642: The charity Lymearts Community Trust, stages a variety of live events. In 2012 graffiti artist Banksy stenciled an origami crane on a wall adjacent to the River Lym at the intersection of Mill and Coombe Streets. Local TV coverage is provided by BBC South West and ITV West Country . Television signals are received from the Stockland Hill TV transmitter and the local relay transmitter situated in Charmouth . Local radio stations are BBC Radio Solent , Heart West , Wessex FM , and Lyme Bay Radio,
3496-413: The earliest discoveries of dinosaur and other prehistoric reptile remains were made in the area around Lyme Regis, notably those discovered by Mary Anning (1799–1847). Significant finds include Ichthyosaurus , Plesiosaurus , Dimorphodon , Scelidosaurus (one of the first armoured dinosaurs) and Dapedium . The town holds an annual Mary Anning Day and Lyme Regis Fossil Festival. A fossil of
3572-558: The east of Lyme Regis. 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 the Pilot 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. In 1965,
3648-411: The existing highway. The trusts applied some funds to erecting tollhouses that accommodated the pikeman or toll-collector beside the turnpike gate. Although trusts initially organised the collection of tolls directly, it became common for them to auction a lease to collect tolls. Specialist toll-farmers would make a fixed payment to the trust for the lease and then organise the day-to-day collection of
3724-430: The hotel has accommodated Alfred Lord Tennyson , Henry Wadsworth Longfellow , Hilaire Belloc , G. K. Chesterton and J. R. R. Tolkien , who spent several holidays there. In 1944 General Eisenhower delivered an important briefing before D-Day to senior Allied officers in its first-floor lounge. It was used as a setting in the film The French Lieutenant's Woman in 1981. The owners, Palmers Brewery of Bridport, closed
3800-411: 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. The Royal Lion Hotel is a former coaching inn dating from the first decade of the 17th century. It is reputedly haunted; many alleged ectoplasms have been sighted in the corridors and cold spots. On 22 May 2022
3876-499: The jurisdiction of seven trusts, paying a toll at the gates of each. Although a few trusts built new bridges (e.g. at Shillingford over the Thames), most bridges remained a county responsibility. A few bridges were built with private funds and tolls taken at these (e.g., the present Swinford Toll Bridge over the Thames). The quality of early turnpike roads was varied. Although turnpiking did result in some improvement to each highway,
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#17327733381713952-503: The local geological and palaeontological treasures. It was formerly known as the Philpot Museum. Set into the pavement outside the museum is an example of Coade stone work, in the form of ammonites , reflecting the palaeontology for which the town is famous. It commemorates Eleanor Coade , who had an 18th-century artificial stone factory in London and a seaside home, Belmont House, in the town. The Dinosaurland Fossil Museum
4028-404: The money, leaving themselves with a profit on their operations over a year. The powers of a trust were limited, normally to 21 years, after which it was assumed that the responsibility for the now-improved road would be handed back to the parishes. However, trusts routinely sought new powers before this time limit, usually citing the need to pay off the debts incurred in repairing damage caused by
4104-513: The nearby Guildhall Cottage on Church Street. Lyme Regis was an ancient borough , with the earliest known charter 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. The borough was reformed to become a municipal borough in 1836 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 . The municipal borough was abolished in 1974 to become part of
4180-481: The new district of West Dorset . The modern town council was created as a successor parish council for the old borough at the same time. West Dorset was abolished in 2019 under the 2019 structural changes to local government in England , when Dorset Council was established as a unitary authority. Since then, Lyme Regis has been part of the Lyme and Charmouth ward which elects one member to Dorset Council. Lyme Regis
4256-405: The parishes and apply the whole to the maintenance of the main highway. This became the pattern for the turnpiking of a growing number of highways, sought by those who wished to improve flow of commerce through their part of a county. The proposal to turnpike a particular section of road was normally a local initiative and a separate Act of Parliament was required to create each trust. The Act gave
4332-414: The piecemeal approach to road maintenance caused acute problems on the main routes into London. As trade increased, the growing numbers of heavy carts and carriages led to serious deterioration in the state of these roads and this could not be remedied by the use of parish statute labour. A parliamentary bill was tabled in 1621/22 to relieve the parishes responsible for part of the Great North Road by imposing
4408-464: The port was larger than the Port 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 that mortar
4484-650: The relaying of existing road-beds with carefully graded stones to create a dry, fast-running surface (known as Macadamising ). Coach design improved to take advantage of these better roads and in 1843 the London-to- Exeter mail coach could complete the 170-mile (270-km) journey in 17 hours. The introduction of toll gates had been resented by local communities which had freely used the routes for centuries. Early Acts had given magistrates powers to punish anyone damaging turnpike property, such as defacing milestones, breaking turnpike gates or avoiding tolls. Opposition
4560-471: The renewal acts for the earlier trusts incorporated a growing list of powers and responsibilities. The Kent Roads Act 1743 ( 17 Geo. 2 . c. 4), the Turnpike Roads Act 1766 ( 7 Geo. 3 . c. 40) and the Turnpike Roads Act 1773 ( 13 Geo. 3 . c. 84) made statutory provision for the erection of milestones along the turnpike roads indicating the distance between the main towns on the road. Users of
4636-632: The result was that toll gates were dismantled and the trusts abolished in the six counties of South Wales , their powers being transferred to a roads board for each county. These are incomplete lists of trusts by county. By the early Victorian period toll gates were perceived as an impediment to free trade. The multitude of small trusts were frequently charged with being inefficient in use of resources and potentially suffered from petty corruption. The railway era spelt disaster for most turnpike trusts. Although some trusts in districts not served by railways managed to increase revenue, most did not. In 1829,
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#17327733381714712-447: The road were obliged to follow what were to become rules of the road, such as driving on the left and not damaging the road surface. Trusts could take additional tolls during the summer to pay for watering the road in order to lay the dust thrown up by fast-moving vehicles. Parliament also passed a few general Turnpike Acts dealing with the administration of the trusts and restrictions on the width of wheels – narrow wheels were said to cause
4788-614: The roads of complete counties were put under single turnpike trusts in the 1760s. A further surge of trust formation occurred in the 1770s, with the turnpiking of subsidiary connecting roads, routes over new bridges, new routes in the growing industrial areas and roads in Scotland . About 150 trusts were established by 1750; by 1772 a further 400 were established and, in 1800, there were over 700 trusts. In 1825 about 1,000 trusts controlled 18,000 miles (29,000 km) of road in England and Wales. The acts of Parliament for these new trusts and
4864-602: The site 700 years ago is commemorated by a plaque on the wall of the well. 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 the Three Cups Hotel in Broad Street dates from 1807. It is believed that Jane Austen stayed in Hiscott's Boarding House on the same site in 1804. Since then
4940-537: The technologies used to deal with geological features, drainage, and the effects of weather, were all in their infancy. Road construction improved slowly, initially through the efforts of individual surveyors such as John Metcalf in Yorkshire in the 1760s. 19th-century engineers made great advances, notably Thomas Telford and John Loudon McAdam . The engineering work of Telford on the Holyhead Road (now
5016-474: The tolls. The first scheme that had trustees who were not justices was established through a Turnpike Act in 1706 ( 6 Ann. c. 4) for a section of the London- Chester road between Fornhill (near Hockliffe ) and Stony Stratford . The basic principle was that the trustees would manage resources from the several parishes through which the highway passed, augment this with tolls from users from outside
5092-402: 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 HMS Snap. 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,
5168-400: The trust. Trustees were not paid, though they derived indirect benefits from the better transport, which improved access to markets and led to increases in rental income and trade. The first action of a new trust was to erect turnpike gates at which a fixed toll was charged. The Act gave a maximum toll allowable for each class of vehicle or animal – for instance one shilling and six pence for
5244-409: The trustees responsibility for maintaining a specified part of the existing highway. It provided them with powers to achieve this; the right to collect tolls from those using the road was particularly important. Local gentlemen, clergy and merchants were nominated as trustees and they appointed a clerk, a treasurer and a surveyor to actually administer and maintain the highway. These officers were paid by
5320-533: The waters, and the establishment of the turnpike road system. The town then benefited at the expense of continental destinations during the Napoleonic wars when wealthy tourists were unable to travel abroad. This led notable people including Jane Austen to visit, who set part of her final novel Persuasion in the town. Between 1811 and her death in 1847 Mary Anning , a geological pioneer, found and identified Jurassic marine reptile fossils in cliffs to
5396-598: The world's largest moth was discovered there in 1966. To the south-west are Poker's Pool, Seven Rock Point and Pinhay Bay and to the north-east is Charmouth . The coast is subject to landslips 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
5472-584: The year before the Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened, the Warrington and Lower Irlam Trust had receipts of £1,680 but, by 1834, this had fallen to £332. The Bolton and Blackburn Trust had an income of £3,998 in 1846, but in 1847 following the completion of a railway between the two towns, this had fallen to £3,077 and, in 1849, £1,185. The debts of many trusts became significant; forced mergers of solvent and debt-laden trusts became frequent, and by
5548-412: Was granted by King Edward I in 1284 when "Regis" was added to the town's name. The charter was confirmed by Queen Elizabeth 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
5624-799: Was named "Lyme Regis" after the town. In 2005, one event to mark the bicentenary of Admiral Nelson 's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar was a re-enactment of the arrival of the news aboard the Bermuda sloop HMS Pickle . The actor playing the part of Lieutenant John Richards Lapenotière , the Trafalgar messenger, was welcomed at Lyme Regis. Lyme Regis is a coastal town in West Dorset , 25 miles (40 km) west of Dorchester and 25 miles (40 km) east of Exeter . It lies in Lyme Bay , on
5700-506: Was particularly intense in mountainous regions where good routes were scarce. In Mid Wales in 1839, new tolls on old roads sparked protests known as the Rebecca Riots . There were sporadic outbursts of vandalism and violent confrontation by gangs of 50 to 100 or more local men, and gatekeepers were told that if they resisted they would be killed. In 1844, the ringleaders were caught and transported to Australia as convicts. However,
5776-594: Was used in the Cobb's construction for the first time in this rebuilding. It was reconstructed in 1820 using Portland Admiralty Roach , a type of Portland stone . After the Great Storm of 1824 , Captain Sir Richard Spencer RN carried out pioneering lifeboat design work in Cobb harbour. The current Lyme Regis Lifeboat Station was opened in 1997. Open since the late 1950s, Lyme Regis Marine Aquarium occupies an early 18th-century stone building on
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