Lyme Regis

Lyme Regis was a small coastal borough in the far western corner of Dorset, situated in a cleft between two hills, where the River Lim ran into the English Channel. The town was divided by the river, with the two main streets, Broad Street to the west and Church Street to the east, converging on the harbour created by the long seawall known as the Cobb. It was this medieval bulwark, periodically repaired, strengthened and lengthened, that gave Lyme its commercial advantage, as it provided a safe haven for ships trading along the coast. In the sixteenth century the town was known for its trade in fish and cloth, and by the early seventeenth century it was probably the most prosperous port in Dorset. Historic Towns in Dorset, 69-73. The population of Lyme was small, perhaps reaching 6-800 in the 1660s, but relatively wealthy, and the hearth tax returns show that there was a large number of substantial houses and very few inhabited by paupers. Dorset Hearth Tax, 91. Before the civil war, a small group of rich merchant families, including the Ellesdons, Hassards, Newalls and Roses, ruled the borough through the council consisting of a mayor and burgesses, and they also served as its justices of the peace and as wardens of the Cobb.

There was a puritanical streak to the town as early as James I’s reign, when the great Cobb Ale, held at Whitsun, was banned by the corporation, and the vicar, John Geare, had his preaching licence removed for airing unorthodox views – although his later case against prominent burgesses for profanity suggests that the elite was divided in its religious opinions at this stage. Bayley, Dorset, 13-14. By the 1620s the godly interest in the council had strengthened, perhaps under the influence of the local gentry, who had strong interests in the town. Among the MPs returned in the 1620s were Sir Walter* and Christopher Erle†, whose family owned land nearby, and the latter was made recorder in the 1630s. Other families with great influence at this time were the Henleys, the Ceelys and the Prideaux – all of whom were puritans based in Somerset but with landed interests in or around Lyme. During the 1630s there are signs that Lyme was out of kilter with Caroline policies. In 1635 John Geare had once again attracted the attention of the court of high commission for his ‘crimes’, and, despite complaints of piracy on the south coast, Ship Money was unpopular. CSP Dom. 1635-6, p. 116; RR6/91 (Institution books), ii. 4. One of the town justices of the peace (and former mayor), Richard Rose*, was investigated for his public criticism of the crown’s policies in 1637, and a year later the mayor and four other townsmen were questioned for withholding the port’s ‘casual profits’ from the exchequer. CSP Dom. 1636-7, p. 111; 1637, p. 481; 1637-8, p. 429: Dorset RO, DC/LR/D1/1, pp. 73-9.

The extent of Lyme’s dissatisfaction with the Caroline regime can be seen in the two parliamentary elections in 1640. It seems that Rose was a candidate in the spring, but by 21 March he had been squeezed out by the last-minute appearance of Sir Walter Erle, who had relinquished a county seat to George Lord Digby*. This godly gentleman was returned alongside another, the recorder, Edmund Prideaux I, suggesting that Lyme was willing to cooperate with a scheme to ensure key critics of the government were returned. C219/42/94. In October 1640, with Erle catered for elsewhere, Prideaux and Rose were elected without any further complications. C219/43/165.

When civil war broke out, Lyme declared for Parliament. The Militia Ordinance, imposed by commissioners Sir Thomas Trenchard* and Sir Walter Erle, was accepted by the town, troops were raised and fortifications begun. Bayley, Dorset, 48. In September 1642 the governor of Lyme, Thomas Ceely* (who had served as mayor in the previous year), took two cannons from the town to assist the parliamentarians at Dorchester. Bodl. Gough, Dorset 14, f. 97; Dorset RO, DC/LR/D1/1, p. 81. Lyme was strategically important as a naval base, and the garrison became notorious for its ambitious raids into Somerset and Devon, but it was only in the summer of 1643, when the royalists under Prince Maurice invaded Dorset, that the town was directly threatened. Even then, Lyme’s refusal to surrender did not bring an immediate assault, and it was in April 1644, as Maurice marched eastwards from his abortive siege of Plymouth, that finally a serious attempt was made against it. Bayley, Dorset, 127-8, 135.

The army which arrived before Lyme on 20 April 1644 was made up of six or seven regiments, including four veterans’ units from Cornwall. They were expected to make short work of the garrison, which was far weaker in numbers, and whose hastily-prepared positions were overlooked by the surrounding hills. In the event, the siege was one of the hardest-fought during the civil wars, as the royalists mounted almost daily assaults, each one driven back by the garrison, which made its own sallies in reply. The royalist earthworks were pushed to within pistol shot of the town’s defences, and mortar-shells, hand-grenades and red-hot cannonballs set the houses ablaze. Fourteen merchant ships at the Cobb were attacked and burned. On 23 May, after over a month of fighting, the 2nd earl of Warwick (Robert Rich†) arrived with a parliamentarian fleet, and supplied the garrison with food and ammunition and detachments of sailors. In early June, the royalist attacks became more violent than before. Then news came that the army of Robert Devereux, 3rd earl of Essex, had reached Dorchester on its march westwards, and on 15 June Maurice suddenly raised the siege and marched north, leaving Lyme ruined, but defiant. Bayley, Dorset, 136-90; CSP Dom. 1644, pp. 181-2, 190, 204, 227, 239-40.

Parliament’s response to the siege was to send congratulatory messages to the governor and burgesses, and to grant them gratuities of £150 and £2,000 respectively. Bayley, Dorset, 190. The town also received an annuity of £1,000 extracted from the estates of a local royalist landowner, Sir John Poulett*, and promises that the cost of caring for the wounded and maimed would be met. CSP Dom. 1655, pp. 38-9. Lyme continued to play an important part in the war, as a thorn in the side of the royalists who continued to dominate the south west. When Charles I’s army marched west in pursuit of the earl of Essex in July 1644, it was harried by forces from the town; in November the townsmen burned neighbouring Axminster; in January 1645 they opposed the forces of George Goring* based at Chard; and in July the garrison took Lord Arundell’s house at Chideock, north of the town. Bayley, Dorset, 207, 216, 221, 253-5, 275; CSP Dom. 1644-5, pp. 230-1. Sir Thomas Fairfax’s* arrival in the same month removed the threat of further royalist attacks, but the town was left in a poor state. The physical damage caused by the siege was matched by a collapse in morale in the council. The borough records show that in 1646 two burgesses were fined for refusing to take their oaths; the mayor, Anthony Ellesdon, refused to serve; and the town clerk absconded to Bridport. Dorset RO, DC/LR/D1/1, pp. 82, 83. In November 1648 there was no minister in the town, and the churchwardens were instructed to collect tithes and fees to buy in occasional help. Dorset Standing Cttee ed. Mayo, 459. Their friends at Westminster were also in disarray. The two borough MPs had cooperated in bringing support to the town during and after the siege, but in the later 1640s they fell out, with Prideaux becoming an Independent and Rose a Presbyterian. In 1650 Rose refused to take the oath when he was elected as mayor, saying that he would not subscribe the Engagement to the commonwealth, and, against the will of the council, Prideaux insisted that he should pay the full fine for doing so. Dorset RO, DC/LR/D1/1, pp. 84-5, 90-1.

During the protectorate, Lyme’s fortunes improved. The Cobb was repaired and enlarged with funding from the government, a schoolmaster was employed, and a brewhouse constructed to support the town’s charities. CSP Dom. 1655, pp. 113, 273; Dorset RO, DC/LR/1/23; DC/LR/D1/1, pp. 93-4. The town could still call on powerful patrons. The election in 1654 saw the return of its recorder, Edmund Prideaux, now attorney-general, and this was apparently the unanimous decision of the mayor, ‘burgesses and inhabitants’, 17 of whom signed the indenture. C219/44, unfol. As well as Prideaux, the town looked to other Dorset MPs, including John Fitzjames*, Denis Bond* and William Sydenham*, who all worked to reduce the assessment rates imposed on the town. Alnwick, Northumberland 551, ff. 10v, 19. Prideaux was also returned for the borough in 1656, in a contest very similar to that in 1654, and with the same number of electors. Dorset RO, DC/LR/L/1/2. His letter to his constituents of 8 November, in which he advised on ‘the revenue settled upon you by the Parliament’ 12 years before, shows that he was careful of their interests at Westminster. Dorset RO, DC/LR/D2/1, unfol. In October 1658 Fitzjames was consulted about the council’s affairs, and his moderate views seem to have accorded well with those of leading burgesses like John and William Ellesdon. Alnwick, Northumberland 552, f. 38.

The temper of the corporation can also be seen in the elections for the 1659 Parliament. Prideaux was returned as usual, but this time he was joined by Henry Henley, a pro-Cromwellian Presbyterian who was brother-in-law of the disgraced former MP, Richard Rose. The attitude of the corporation to the fall of the protectorate and the restoration of the Rump is unclear, but the army coup provoked the townsmen into action. In December 1659 the burgesses wrote to Speaker William Lenthall* announcing that in response to ‘the late exorbitant actings of the army’, they had disarmed the company garrisoning the town, and appointed their own captains. Bodl. Nalson 8, ff. 217-8; CJ vii. 801b.

Despite Lyme’s reputation as a parliamentarian stronghold, the Restoration did not lead to upheaval within the town or the council. In October 1661 the town was required to support maimed royalist soldiers, but their continued support for wounded parliamentarians was not questioned. Dorset RO, DC/LR/D2/1, unfol. The commissioners for corporations visited in September and October 1662, but only three burgesses, headed by the civil war governor, Thomas Ceely, refused to take the oath, and were dismissed. Dorset RO, DC/LR/D2/1, unfol. There was no wholescale purge of the council, and in later months it still included men who had served throughout the 1640s and 1650s, such as John Ellesdon and Walter West. Dorset RO, DC/LR/D1/1, p. 97.