St Leonards
St Leonards maps (2 available)
Map of Devon
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
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St Leonards books (18 available)
St Leonards memories
Read and share memories of St Leonards and Devon inspired by Frith photos
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Devon memories
Fossil Depot
My Great Great Great Grandfather, William Moore lived here in 1861 with his wife Sarah, he also sold music, pianofortes and oak carvings.
High Spring Tide Lyme Regis Cobb 10th March 2008
I stood at the end of the Cobb on the day of the worst storm this winter and both saw and felt the sea spray as the waves hit the top of the sea wall. It was just as exciting as shown in this view of 1910 !
I was visiting for the day while sight-seeing with our friends Julian and Janice Dent who were staying with my wife Elizabeth and me in Tiverton. Julian took photos of the angry sea - it came almost to the top of the shingle bank where the fishing boats were laid up. We went on to the shingle and threw a few pebbles in the sea getting our socks and trousers wet ...read more here
A memory of Lyme Regis contributed by John Howard Norfolk
haunted house
my name is ray hallett and i lived here in 1969. our flat was on the first floor , on the left. I remember hearing an owl hooting in the large tree at night and was convinced that the place was haunted .The house was then owned by herbie hallett ,no relation. It was infested with mice , my mother once opened the oven door to see a mouse sitting there cleaning his whiskers .I think it is such a shame that it was not saved and only photos remain.
A memory of Lyme Regis contributed by Raymond Hallett
Greenhams, Broad Street
What a nice surprise to see your post, Charles Greenham was my Grandfather and I spent many a good holiday there in the 60s
Thanks
A memory of Lyme Regis contributed by Patrick Armstrong
Extracts From St Leonards & Devon books
These holiday caravans are sited behind Rivermead House. This
was among the ‘horror pictures’ used by the land agent John
Cripwell in order to encourage Lord Antrim and the council of the
National Trust to buy two thousand of acres from Lyme Regis to
Eype. Mobile homes between River Way and Bridge Road, on the
west bank of the River Char, have also been targeted by nature,
notably in a flash flood in the 1970s.
An extract from from"Lyme Regis Photographic Memories".
There are sea defences
(top left) where Lower
Sea Lane converges with
Higher Sea Lane. Below, a
shingle beach with patches
of pea-grit provides a spot
for rest and relaxation
between Raffey’s Ledge and
the Mouth Rocks, where
the River Char enters the
sea. Evan’s Cliff is to the
east (centre), followed by
the higher cliffs of Cain’s
Folly and Golden Cap (top
right). Jane Austen writes in
‘Persuasion’: ‘Charmouth
with its high ground and
extensive sweeps of country,
and still more, its sweet
retired bay, backed by dark
cliffs where fragments of
low rock among the sands
make it the happiest spot
for watching the flow of the
tide; for sitting in unwearied
contemplation.
An extract from from"Lyme Regis Photographic Memories".
We are looking eastwards from the blocked mouth of the River Char, which ends its journey to the sea by having to break
through a ridge of shingle (right). The coastal footpath from Charmouth (left) crosses to a shelter on Evan’s Cliff (centre),
but is then subject to recurrent problems as it crosses the landslip zone at Cain’s Folly (central skyline). Here a Royal Air
Force coastal radar station slipped down the cliffs on 14 May 1942. Its concrete and brick remains are entombed in the
undercliff. The distant cliff, towards Bridport, is Thorncombe Beacon (towards top right).
An extract from from"Lyme Regis Photographic Memories".
The turnpike road through Charmouth was run
by the Bridport District Trust from 1764 to 1877.
For several decades in the next century it carried
the A35 Folkestone to Honiton trunk road. The
lorry climbing the hill belonged to Grabham’s
Transport. This view is south-eastwards, towards
Bridport, from Gear’s Garage with its AA and
RAC signs (far right). L M de Ville ran the
Queen’s Armes Private Hotel (right) in the mid
20th century, and Edward Hunter was across
the street in the George Hotel (left). The early
16th-century Queen’s Armes is described by the
Royal Commission on Historical Monuments as
‘an unusually complete example of a small late
medieval house’. King Charles II spent a sleepless
night here on 22 September 1651, disguised as
a servant, during his escape from the Battle of
Worcester to exile in France.
An extract from from"Lyme Regis Photographic Memories".
We look north-westwards up The Street to the Coach and Horses
Hotel (left centre), where the Victorian landlord was James
Ingram. Charmouth House is further up the hill (centre). The
shopkeeper Edward Archer Vince (centre right) ran the archetypal
general store, and could claim to supply just about everything.
The sign lists ‘linen and woollens, clothing, hats, fancy articles,
boots and shoes, groceries and ironmongery’.
An extract from from"Lyme Regis Photographic Memories".