Lyme Regis, Dorset
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A great deal of Lyme's importance as a port was based on the fact that it was the only safe haven between the River Exe in Devon 24 miles to the west and Melcombe Regis (now Weymouth) in the lee of Portland to the east.
Devon's river Axe meets the sea only six miles to the west of Lyme and Axemouth might well have developed as the predominant port along this stretch of coast leaving Lyme Regis, clustered around its tumbling river Lime a mere fishing village. Problems experienced at Axemouth in the 13th century with cliff falls and blockages by shingle pushed relentlessly by the eastward drift caused plans for a port there to be abandoned.
The youthfull River Lim (at least youthfull as rivers are measured) offers no basis for a harbour as it races and tumbles over the rocks at the bottom of the steep valley it has carved and rushes over the beach to the sea.
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The building of Lyme's breakwater, The Cobb, to offer a haven and harbour along the otherwise unprotected arch of Lyme Bay secured the town's development from a small fishing village to an important port. Edward I granted Lyme a charter in 1284 when it was already a major port.
The original breakwater was a far less substantial structure than the curved rampart of concrete and masonry which we see today. Constructed of wooden piles and stones, it was completely separated from the beach at high tide and subject to frequent damage by storms. Today the Cobb is completely exposed as it reaches into the sea from the beach, the cliffs here are soft and rapidly eroded - at the time of its first construction, it may have been at least partialy sheltered by apromontory which has since been washed away.
The Cobb was destroyed twice n the 14th century first in 1340, then during a great storm on November 11, 1377, which destroyed eighty houses in the town and fifty of the mariners' precious boats.
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The prosperity of the port on its open bay depended on that unusual feature the Cobb. The Cobb Ale was a week-long Whitsun Festival, the proceeds of which went to the upkeep of the Cobb. The Cobb Ales appear to have have become too drunken and boisterous and the Ale was banned at the end of the 16th century.
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It was not until 1756 that the cobb was finally joined to the mainland.
In common with many of its ilk, the importance of Lyme as a port declined over the centuries as ships grew ever larger. The cobb remained a haven for the port's fishing fleet into the 21st century and a sea defence and harbour for the resort into which the town emerged.
A Cobb duty list has survived from 1879. It is painted on a high sign-board the buildings at the end of the Cobb for all to see the great variety of goods which were shipped to and from the port (Click here to see the list).
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