Lynton and Lynmouth

Lynton and Lynmouth
Lynton and Lynmouth is located in Devon
Lynton and Lynmouth
Lynton and Lynmouth
Location within Devon
Area30.5 km2 (11.8 sq mi)
Population1,405 (2021 census)
• Density46/km2 (120/sq mi)
Civil parish
  • Lynton and Lynmouth
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
List of places
UK
England
Devon
51°13′44″N 3°49′59″W / 51.229°N 3.833°W / 51.229; -3.833
W. I. Lincoln Adams photographed the landscape around the two villages in the summer of 1909. He compared the drive through the Valley of Rocks and along the cliff road with the Axenstrasse over Lake Lucerne, considering the Devon drive "the more wonderful, both as an engineering feat in road-building, and in the grandeur and sublimity of the scenery".[1]

Lynton and Lynmouth is a civil parish in the North Devon district of Devon, England. The parish is named after its two main settlements of Lynton, which stands on a plateau above the Glen Lyn Gorge, and Lynmouth which lies at the foot of the gorge where the West Lyn River and East Lyn River converge and then meet the sea. The two are connected by the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway, a water-powered funicular railway.

The area is also sometimes poetically termed Little Switzerland, on account of the scenic landscape which was considered by early tourists to resemble the landscapes of Switzerland. The parish lies within Exmoor National Park.

In 1952 it was the scene of the devastating Lynmouth flood when in one night 35 people were killed and a further 420 were made homeless. Over 100 buildings and 28 bridges were destroyed.

The parish council has designated the parish to be a town, and so calls itself Lynton and Lynmouth Town Council. The parish was just called Lynton prior to 1976. In 2021 the parish had a population of 1,405.

  1. ^ Adams, Washington Irving Lincoln (1910), "In the Land of the Doones", Photographing in Old England, New York: Baker & Taylor, pp. 37–38