The River Lym or River Lim is a short

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

, some 5 km (3.1 mi) in length, that flows through the

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

border. It rises from multiple springs at Raymond's Hill, near the village of

Uplyme Uplyme is an English village and civil parish in East Devon on the Devon-Dorset border and the River Lym, adjacent to the Dorset coastal town of Lyme Regis. It has a population of approximately 1700 recounted as 1663 at the 2011 census. ''Uply ...

East Devon East Devon is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council has been based in Honiton since February 2019, and the largest town is Exmouth (with a population of 34,432 at the time of the 2011 census). The district was formed ...

, and flows southeasterly through Dorset, into the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

via

Lyme Bay Lyme Bay is an area of the English Channel off the south coast of England. The south western counties of Devon and Dorset front onto the bay. The exact definitions of the bay vary. The eastern boundary is usually taken to be Portland Bill on the ...

in the town of

Lyme Regis Lyme Regis is a town in west Dorset, England, west of Dorchester and east of Exeter. Sometimes dubbed the "Pearl of Dorset", it lies by the English Channel at the Dorset–Devon border. It has noted fossils in cliffs and beaches on the Heri ...

, Dorset. The river falls over 200 metres from its source.River Lym (or Lim)
''LymeRegis.org'', "the Pearl of Dorset". Retrieved 17 July 2021. Some of the northern parts of the river are partly underground, and some points at Lyme Regis are culverted. Lyme Regis has grown around the southern course of the river, with residential houses,

holiday cottage A holiday cottage, holiday home, vacation home, or vacation property is accommodation used for holiday vacations, corporate travel, and temporary housing often for less than 30 days. Such properties are typically small homes, such as cottage ...

s and bridges connected to it. In Saxon times, the abbots of Sherborne Abbey had salt-boiling rights on land adjacent to the River Lym, and in the 12th century the river powered three watermills, however today Town Mill, dating back to at least 1340, is the only watermill still in use.

Etymology

The name is of British origin and probably cognate with the Welsh '' llif'' meaning flood or stream. The River Lym (or Lim) appears in the ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

''.James, Alan G. (2008)
A Slippery Customer: proto-Indo-European *(s)lei- and its progeny in some place-names in Britain
. (revised, 2010).

Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland The Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland (SNSBI) is a learned society of members with interests in proper names, including place-names, personal names, and surnames relating to the British Isles. The SNSBI is the successor to the Counci ...

. Retrieved 2 August 2021.

Course

Some 5 km (3.1 mi) in length, the River Lym rises from a group of springs in Raymond's Hill near the village of Uplyme in East Devon. It flows southward down a steep hill past a cricket ground and tennis courts into Uplyme, before flowing east at Church Street to Tappers Knapp in Devon. After about 1 km (0.621 mi) it resumes a southwesterly course, crossing into Dorset, and flows into the town of Lyme Regis, where it flows past residential houses, holiday cottages and under bridges, alongside Windsor Terrace, then Jericho, before reaching an intersection between Mill Green and Coombe Street – known as the Lynch – where it briefly splits in two, with the east side powering Town Mill – the only present

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of ...

in the area. The west side of the river continues its southerly course and turns slightly west for about 50 m (164 ft), flows for another 150 m (492 ft) under a culvert and eventually Buddle Bridge – an English

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

– before flowing into the

via

in Lyme Regis. It falls over 200 metres from its source. File:River Lym in Uplyme.jpg, The River Lym in Uplyme, East Devon, near its source File:River Lym running into Town Mill.jpg, The right-side split near Mill Green and Coombe Street (named the Lynch) powers Town Mill File:Lyme Regis, River Lim behind the mill - geograph.org.uk - 983373.jpg, The river, flowing behind Town Mill File:River Lim in Lyme Regis (2799).jpg, The River Lym flows into the English Channel

Human activity

The town of Lyme Regis has grown around the south part of the river, with residential houses,

s, bridges and a

connected to it. The River Lim Path is a recreational footpath designated alongside the river.River Lim Path
''LoveLymeRegis.co.uk''. Retrieved 18 July 2021. Three other recreational footpaths, the Wessex Ridgeway, Liberty Trail and

East Devon Way The East Devon Way is a long-distance footpath in England. It runs for between Exmouth Exmouth is a port town, civil parish and seaside resort, sited on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe and southeast of Exeter. In 2011 ...

, coincide with sections of the river.

Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...

(1 February 1997) "Explorer Map: Lyme Regis and Bridport Sheet No. 29 (OS Explorer Map)". Retrieved 17 July 2021. Buddle Bridge, which crosses over the river at Lyme Regis, became a

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

in 1952.Buddle Bridge

. List entry 1110811. Retrieved 17 July 2021. In Saxon times, the abbots of Sherborne Abbey had salt-boiling rights on land adjacent to the River Lym. Town Mill, a watermill dating from 1340, is powered by the River Lym via a leat running along a lynch. The ''

'' records a mill at Lyme in 1086, so the site may be much older. After being restored, the mill now produces flour. In 2012, graffiti artist

Banksy Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive epigram ...

stencilled an origami crane on a wall adjacent to the River Lym at the intersection of Mill Green and Coombe Street.Banksy's graffiti crane found in Lyme Regis
29 May 2012. ''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

''. Retrieved 17 July 2021.

Flooding

The usual

water level Water level, also known as gauge height or stage, is the elevation of the free surface of a sea, stream, lake or reservoir relative to a specified vertical datum.ISO 772: 1996. Hydrometric determinations – Vocabulary and symbols. See also * ...

of the river at Uplyme is between 0.00m and 0.79m. The river has flooded on several occasions, usually after heavy rainfall. The most costly was in 1890, when residents of Coombe Street had to be evacuated.

River Lim Path

The River Lim Path is a public footpath, 2.4 km (1.5 mi) long, that follows the River Lym from Town Mill in Lyme Regis, Dorset to Uplyme in Devon. It was funded and supported by the Coastal Communities Fund, and the footpath also forms part of the

. The Uplyme Parish Council published a guide pamphlet. Improvements were coordinated by Lyme Forward and the Dorset Coast Forum in 2018 and 2019, and a local furniture maker and artist built animal houses and seating areas themed around the old watermills alongside the path.Welch, Lottie (20 July 2019
New seating and animal homes installed along the River Lim Path
''Bridport News''. Retrieved 20 July 2021.

Notes

References

Sources

*Matthews
Discover the River Lym
''Lyme Bay Holidays''.
2015 Bathing Water Profile for Lyme Regis Front Beach
Environment Agency - Catchment Data Explorer. environment.data.gov.uk.

External links

River Lim
at Wikishire Rivers of Dorset Rivers of Devon {{Devon-geo-stub