20 Best Beaches in the World
By • Last UpdatedLyme Regis, England
Aspiring paleontologists and casual shell collectors are drawn to the spiral-shaped ammonites and fossilized remains of 180-million-year-old sea creatures embedded in the rock and sand along England’s Jurassic Coast. The Lyme Regis Museum offers guided fossil walks, and the annual fossil festival in May celebrates earth sciences with plays, music, and interactive exhibits.
Located in West Dorset, Lyme Regis is a coastal town situated 25 miles (40 km) west of Dorchester and 25 miles (40 km) east of Exeter. Nestled in Lyme Bay along the English Channel coast at the Dorset–Devon border, it is affectionately nicknamed “The Pearl of Dorset.” The town is renowned for its fossils found in the cliffs and on the beaches, which are part of the Heritage Coast—commercially known as the Jurassic Coast and recognized as a World Heritage Site.
The harbour wall, known as “The Cobb,” features prominently in Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion and John Fowles’ The French Lieutenant’s Woman, as well as the 1981 film adaptation, which was partially filmed in Lyme Regis.
Lyme Regis was once home to Admiral Sir George Somers, a former mayor and parliamentarian who founded the English colonial settlement known as the Somers Isles, or Bermuda. The town is twinned with St. George’s, Bermuda, and in July 2015, it was “tripled” with Jamestown, Virginia, to create the Historic Atlantic Triangle, linking Lyme, St. George’s, and Jamestown.
According to the 2011 Census, Lyme Regis had a population of 3,671 in its parish and electoral ward.