Lyme Regis
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Lyme Regis from the Cobb | |
Coat of arms of Lyme Regis | |
Location within Dorset | |
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 | Visit Lyme Regis |
Lyme Regis (/ˌlaɪm ˈriːdʒɪs/ 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",[3] it lies by the English Channel at the Dorset–Devon border. It has noted fossils in cliffs and beaches on the Jurassic Coast, 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 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.[4]