Within the short span of 30 years; a relatively small time-frame in the town’s rich history, the landscape of Lyme Regis has changed enormously. In particular the east side of the town has a pedestrianised promenade complete with sea defences and sea views curving around towards East Cliff beach. This walk has become very popular in recent years following a multi-million pound coastal engineering project in 2013 to protect the east side of the town from future subsidence.
The route starts from Cobb Gate car park adjacent to the commemorative anchor and continues eastwards almost half way to Charmouth as indicated in this picture:
Most of the general public wouldn’t know that they are walking on top of a vast underground chamber complete with tunnels and pipes! I’m of course talking about the Lyme Regis sewage pumping station forming part of South West Water’s Clean Sweep scheme. Completed in 1995, this scheme addressed and improved bathing water quality and removed two crude sewage outfalls.
It’s easy to miss the fact that the pumping station even exists because it’s been sympathetically constructed using stone and concrete to tie in with the surroundings.
Over time these have mellowed slightly but when you begin to look closer at the details of the walls you can see they show a much older history:
These walls are the original sea-facing ones and would have bore the brunt of many storms. You can see the stones are quite badly eroded and large portions are rendered with weathered concrete. There is also a marked difference in height along some of the wall sections which were probably due to alterations over the years.
Notice the small lipped edge along the top of the wall in the second photo above? This is known as a wave return but is remarkably smaller than ones created in modern engineering projects, like those just around the corner towards Charmouth.
In the centre of the photo above you can see the clear difference in style as the weathered wall on the left curves away from us. Just by the Marine Theatre notice board the newer wall section begins wrapping around to meet the wall of the Marine Theatre. This forms the pumping station chamber room and is possibly larger and deeper on the inside. I’ve always been fascinated in what sits behind the large wooden doors.
With permission from The Lyme Regis Society, here’s a photo taken from the other side- the main chamber:
Photo credit @Paul Mellor, The Lyme Regis Society https://www.lymeregissociety.org.uk/2013/09/heritage-open-days-2013/
The pumping station has been opened to the public a handful of times, most recently in 2013 (as far as I can find) by Heritage Open Days.
Edit: Most recently opened in 2018 https://www.bridportnews.co.uk/news/16421547.visitors-will-surprised-gun-cliff-open-behind-scenes-tour/
Just below the Marine Theatre you can see the weathered wall again. Here it is up close:
If you have any photos of this area, particularly of the construction I would love to see it; contact me via comm500@yahoo.co.uk