The River Lym or River Lim is a short

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

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

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

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

East Devon East Devon is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based in the town of Honiton, although Exmouth is the largest town. The district also contains the towns of Axminster, Budleigh Salterton, Cranbrook, Ottery St M ...

, and flows southeasterly through Dorset, into the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

via Lyme Bay in the town of

Lyme Regis Lyme Regis ( ) is a town in west Dorset, England, west of Dorchester, Dorset, 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 ...

, 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

culvert A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe (fluid conveyance), pipe, reinforced concrete or other materia ...

ed. Lyme Regis has grown around the southern course of the river, with residential houses, holiday cottages and bridges connected to it. In

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

''.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. 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 mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...

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

and eventually Buddle Bridge – an English

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

– before flowing into the

via Lyme Bay 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, holiday cottages, 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 The Liberty Trail is a 28-mile (45.1 km) trail between Ham Hill, Somerset, Ham Hill in Somerset and Lyme Regis in Dorset, England. History The route of the Liberty Trail route is based on information recorded by six Rebellion, rebels from ...

and East Devon Way, coincide with sections of the river.

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

(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 Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

in 1952.Buddle Bridge

. List entry 1110811. Retrieved 17 July 2021. In

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 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. In May 2023 an ecologist member of the River Lim Action Group declared that the river was "ecologically dead" following many sewage spills.

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. Over long distances, neglecting external forcings (such as wind), water level ten ...

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 East Devon Way. 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. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lym, River Rivers of Dorset Rivers of Devon