Out and About: Lyme Regis
Updated: Oct 9
Our second Out and About, researched by Paul Coggins, Poundbury resident and CAofP volunteer.
There is probably no better description of Lyme Regis than Jane Austen's own, written after visiting in 1803 and 1804: "the principal street almost hurrying into the water, the walk to the Cobb, skirting round the pleasant little bay... the beautiful line of cliffs stretching out to the east of the town." She concluded that it must be "a very strange stranger who does not see charms in the immediate environs of Lyme, to make him wish to know it better."
Lyme Regis lies about 25 miles west of Dorchester, about 35 minutes by car or a scenic journey on the Jurassic Coaster bus. It sits at the westernmost point of the Dorset coast, where the beautiful coastlines of Dorset and Devon meet on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, one of the most geologically remarkable stretches of coastline on earth.
The Cobb
The town's most famous landmark is The Cobb, the ancient curved harbour wall that has sheltered Lyme from south-westerly gales since the time of Edward I. Austen fans will know it as the spot where the hapless Louisa Musgrove tumbled from the steps in Persuasion. Fans of John Fowles will know it as the moody backdrop of The French Lieutenant's Woman — the scene of Meryl Streep gazing out to sea is one of cinema's most memorable images of the English coast. Ship building has existed here since around 1780, and the harbour retains a working, salt-weathered character.
Mary Anning, a woman who changed the world
The cliffs east of the town, known as Black Ven, tower some 130 metres above the beach and are subject to constant erosion. Fossils tumble out of them: ammonites, belemnites, ancient marine reptiles. And it was here that a young girl from a poor Lyme Regis family changed the course of science.
Mary Anning (1799–1847) began fossil hunting as a child, taught by her father who sold finds to tourists. Aged just 12, she discovered a near-complete Ichthyosaur skeleton. In 1823 she found the world's first complete Plesiosaur. In 1828, the first British Pterosaur. Self-taught in geology, anatomy, palaeontology, and scientific illustration, she was barred from the Geological Society because she was a woman, while male scientists used her discoveries without crediting her.
If you want to know more, you won't have long to wait. On 30 January 2027,
Dorset Museum in Dorchester opens a major exhibition — Mary Anning: Fossil Hunter, guest curated by Girl with a Pearl Earring author Tracy Chevalier. Chevalier spent years fossil hunting on these same beaches while researching her novel Remarkable Creatures, which tells Mary's story. The exhibition includes a cast of the Ichthyosaur skull Mary discovered at 12, a recreation of a Jurassic beach, and letters and drawings that reveal her remarkable character.
Two more names worth knowing
Joseph Lister (1827–1912), the surgeon who pioneered antiseptic medicine and was eventually given the title Baron Lister of Lyme Regis, lived here. And Admiral Sir George Somers (1554–1610), a former Mayor of Lyme, was shipwrecked in 1609 on an island he claimed for England, establishing the colony that became Bermuda.
Oh, and in November 1963 the Beatles passed through on their way to Plymouth. It is that kind of town.
Go soon!
On an autumn afternoon before the weather turns, wander Broad Street, Coombe Street, Sherborne Lane, Silver Street, and Marine Parade. Hunt for fossils on Monmouth Beach or East Cliff. Please check the tides click here before you go, and stay well away from the cliffs. Have lunch somewhere warm. Walk The Cobb. And then go to Dorset Museum in the new year to see the woman who found its treasures first.
With thanks to Paul Coggins for the research behind this piece. For a future Out and About suggestion, email whatson@lovepoundbury.org.