Lymington

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses of the name Lymington, see Lymington (disambiguation).

Lymington
Cobbled streets in Lymington town centre.
Lymington shown within Hampshire
OS grid reference	SZ3295
District	New Forest
Shire county	Hampshire
Region	South East
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LYMINGTON
Postcode district	SO41
Dialling code	01590
Police	Hampshire
Fire	Hampshire
Ambulance	South Central
European Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	New Forest West
List of places: UK • England • Hampshire

Coordinates: 50°45′N 1°33′W / 50.75, -1.55

Lymington on the west bank of the Lymington River is a port on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It is to the east of the South East Dorset conurbation, and faces Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight which is connected to it by a car ferry, operated by Wightlink. The town has a large tourist industry, based on proximity to the New Forest and the harbour. It is a major yachting centre with three marinas. According to the 2001 census the Lymington urban area had a population of about 14,000.

The town has many shops, catering for tourists and sailing enthusiasts alike. There is a local market every Saturday, which takes place in the main High Street. The market is fairly typical for southern England, selling a selection of cheap general household items, craft items and a selection of food produce from the local area.

1 Lymington Today
2 History
3 Lymington in Fiction
4 Sailing
5 Leisure amenities
6 Shopping
7 Transport Links
8 Gallery
9 Nearby Towns and Villages
10 Nearest Large Towns/Cities
11 Famous current and former residents
12 Famous Visitors
13 Famous MP
14 Twin Towns
15 References
16 External links

[edit] Lymington Today

Due to the recent change in planning legislation, many traditional areas of the town have been redeveloped; older houses have been demolished and replaced with new blocks of flats and retirement homes. The high street has also seen rapid change over the last couple of years with an increasing presence of chain stores and coffee shop franchises. In recent months approval has been granted to a large development of retirement flats adjacent to the historic quay area.

[edit] History

The earliest settlement in the Lymington area was at the Iron Age fort at Buckland known as Buckland Rings. The hill and ditches of this fort still remain.

Lymington itself began as an Anglo-Saxon village. The Anglo-Saxons, probably Jutes, arrived in what is now South West Hampshire in the 6th century. They founded a settlement called limen tun. The Saxon word tun means a farm or hamlet. Limen is believed to be a Celtic name meaning either elm river or possibly, marshy river.

The town is recorded in the Domesday book of 1086 as "Lentune". About 1200 the lord of the manor, William de Redvers gave the town its first charter and the right to hold a market. The town became a Parliamentary Borough in 1585 returning 2 MPs until 1832 when it lost one.

From the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century Lymington was famous for making salt. Saltworks comprised almost a continuous belt along the coast toward Hurst Spit.

In the eighteenth and early nineteenth century Lymington possessed a military depot that included a number of foreign troops-mostly artillery but including several militia regiments. At the time of the Napoleonic Wars the King's German Legion was based here. As well as Germans and Dutch, there were French émigrés, and French regiments were raised to take part in the ill fated Quiberon bay expedition (1795), from which few returned.

From the late seventeenth century it had a thriving shipbuilding industry. Much of the town centre is Victorian and Georgian, with narrow cobbled streets, giving an air of quaintness. The wealth of the town at the time is represented in its architecture.

Lymington is particularly famous for its smuggling history, there are unproven stories that under the High Street are smugglers' tunnels which run from the old inns to the town quay.

Lymington was one of the boroughs reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. In addition to the original town, 1932 saw a major expansion of the borough, to add Milton (previously an urban district) and the parishes of Milford on Sea and Pennington, and parts of other parishes, from Lymington Rural District - this made the borough extend west along the coast to the border with Christchurch. ^[1]

Under the Local Government Act 1972 the borough of Lymington was abolished on April 1, 1974, becoming an unparished area in the district of New Forest, with Charter Trustees. The area was parished as the four parishes of New Milton, Lymington and Pennington, Milford-on-Sea and Hordle.

Lymington New Forest Hospital opened in 2007, replacing the earlier Lymington Hospital.

[edit] Lymington in Fiction

The High Street and Church

Lymington is mentioned in 'The Children of the New Forest' by Captain Marryat. It also features in the historical novels of local writer Warwick Collins (namely 'The Rationalist' and 'The Marriage of Souls') and 'The Forest' by Edward Rutherford.

In Tom Clancy's 'Patriot games', a wight link ferry heading from the Lymington ferry terminal is intercepted and a prisoner is extracted in heavy seas. Several men on board the ferry are murdered.

Lymington also occasionally featured in the 1980s series Howard's Way.

[edit] Sailing

Lymington is also famous for its sailing history, and in recent years, has been home to world famous regattas such as the Royal Lymington Cup, Etchells Worlds, Macnamara's Bowl, and Source Regatta. The strong tides make it a challenging race track, and together with the shallow depth of the river, has resulted in Lymington losing a lot of regattas to the Central Solent, principally run from Cowes. Nevertheless, Thursday Evening Racing takes place with up to 100 boats registered to race every Thursday night during the summer, hosted by the Royal Lymington Yacht Club. Started in the 1990s, it has continued to become more and more popular.

There are two Sailing Clubs in the town, both active. The Royal Lymington Yacht Club, founded in the 1920s as the Lymington River Sailing Club, now has over 3000 members, and now plays host to major keelboat and dinghy events. The Lymington Town Sailing Club, founded in 1946, plays host to the popular Lymington Winter Series known as the Solent Circuit.

Sailors from Lymington continue to dominate Olympic events.

[edit] Leisure amenities

The town's leisure amenities include; several parks, two sailing clubs, a community centre, a library, the St Barbes Museum and Gallery, two swimming baths (one is an open air sea water baths dating back to the 1830s), a sports centre and a very small cinema/theatre. Lymington, being near the New Forest, is also a good location for walking, cycling and riding.

[edit] Shopping

Lymington has a wide range of shops and a large street market on the High Street as well as three supermarkets: Waitrose (The Largest), Marks & Spencer Simply Food, and Tesco.

[edit] Transport Links

Lymington Town railway station.

[edit] Rail

Lymington has two railway stations: Lymington Pier (the terminus), on the east side of the river near the ferry terminal, and Lymington Town. These stations are connected to the national rail network by a branch line to Brockenhurst. Services are currently operated by South West Trains, and are unofficially known as the "Lymington Flyer". This branch line is one of the last places in the country that old "slam-door" trains can be seen in operation, as a "heritage" service.

[edit] Roads

The A337 road links Lymington to Lyndhurst and the M27 motorway to the north, and to New Milton and the South East Dorset conurbation to the west.

[edit] Ferries

Three Wightlink ferries have run from Lymington to Yarmouth since the 1970s, named after Anglo Saxon Kings: Cenred, Cenwulf and Caedmon. The ferries on average run every 30 minutes, from a port south east of the old town on the far side of the Lymington River.

[edit] Gallery

The town quay	A trawler lands oysters	Yachts laid up for winter	The Isle of Wight ferries pass
A forest of masts

[edit] Nearby Towns and Villages

[edit] Nearest Large Towns/Cities

[edit] Famous current and former residents

William Allingham (Irish Poet)
Thomas Blakiston (19th Century Explorer - born in Lymington)
Caroline Bowles (Writer and wife of Robert Southey)
Charles Burrard (Naval Officer and artist)
Harry Burrard-Neale (18th and 19th Century Sailor/Admiral and MP)
Emma Chambers (TV star)
Warwick Collins (Novelist)
Clare Francis (Novelist and Yachtswoman)
Tom Johnstone (Smuggler - born in Lymington in 1772)
Henry Lyte (Curate and Hymn Writer)
Jenni Murray (Broadcaster - used to live in Lymington)
Coventry Patmore (Poet)
Russell Perrett (Luton Town Footballer)
Jonathan Raban (Writer - lived briefly on the outskirts of Lymington)
Nick Rogers (Olympic Sailor)
Ken Russell (Film Director)
Robert Southey (Writer and former Poet Laureate - author of 'The Three Bears')
David Stride (ex Chelsea Footballer)
John Tutchin (17th Century Poet, Journalist and radical Whig)
Dennis Wheatley (Writer)
Sam Vokes (AFC Bournemouth and Wales U-21 Striker)
Neville Duke (World War II fighter pilot and holder of the world air speed record)
Leslie Thomas (Writer)
Johnny Depp (Hollywood Actor - owns a house.)
Jeffrey Skitch (Opera singer, actor and academic, Principle Baratone of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company)
Sion Jenkins ( accused and acquitted of the murder of his daughter Billie-Jo)
Bruce Grobbelaar (Footballer)
Mark Kermode (Film Critic)