Lynton and Lynmouth have attracted visitors for over 200 years, occupying a beautiful South West Coastal location in Exmoor National Park that crosses the Somerset and North Devon borders.
Lynton and Lynmouth have been named as the 'Jewel in the Crown' of Exmoor's National Park. Such a variety of spectacular scenery and interest in such a few square miles can be found nowhere else. For many years Lynton and Lynmouth have been the place to take time and plan a real breakaway for a few days or more. Many visitors come back time and time again to recapture the special atmosphere of Exmoor.
Lynton with its cliffside position on the spectacular North Devon coast and Lynmouth occupying the picturesque harbour 600 metres below, are where Exmoor meets the sea.
Here, the awe-inspiring moors, roll towards the dramatic South West coastline and the highest cliffs in England, providing magnificent views over the Bristol Channel which has the second fastest rising tide in the world.
Some of the first visitors to Lynton and Lynmouth's unique landscapes, at the time of the Napoleonic wars, were writers and poets: Coleridge, Wordsworth, Southey and Shelley were all inspired by the beauty and drama of Lynton and Lynmouth's landscapes. The extraordinary 'Valley of the Rocks', minutes from Lynton, features in writings of their exploits, and this strangely weathered rock formation with its own wild goats, has remained to this day, one of the most awe inspiring places to visit in Exmoor and the South West.
During the time of these first visitors, Lynton and Lynmouth with its beauty, peace and tranquillity, was likened to Switzerland and over time became known as 'England's little Switzerland'.
At the end of the 18th century, the herring shoals that had made Lynton and Lynmouth a fishing centre, disappeared. As visitors increased, Lynton and Lynmouth were transformed into coastal resorts for the wealthy, incorporating intriguing Swiss architectural features into its new Hotels and Guest Houses.
There are many tales about Lynton, Lynmouth and Exmoor, in the 1800's, from shipwrecks, treacherous stagecoach journeys and smuggling, to tales of the legendary Doone family of the moors. Inspired by tales of the Doone's and holidays with his Exmoor relatives, R.D. Blackmore's novel Lorna Doone, first published in 1869, is mix of fact, legend, and romanticism. Since that time the Doone trademark has attracted many visitors to Exmoor from around the world. Exmoor's beautiful Doone Valley lies a few miles from Lynton and Lynmouth.
In 1899 the Lynmouth lifeboat was hauled 13 miles overland across some of Exmoor's wildest and steepest terrain to rescue a vessel off Porlock Weir in one of the most epic lifeboat rescues ever. In 1999 the Lynton and Lynmouth communities re-enacted the events of one hundred years earlier, to pay tribute to their forefathers extraordinary and heroic exploit.
Unique developments of the late 1800's, that more than 100 years on, are still in place barely altered, contribute to Lynton and Lynmouth's current day charms as a timeless and unique location.
Sir George Newnes, the publisher of the Sherlock Holmes stories, visited, fell in love with, and invested his fortune in Lynton and Lynmouth. He funded the building of the funicular Cliff railway, powered totally by water, that opened in 1890 and still runs today, joining the towns of Lynton and Lynmouth together.
His grand residence on Hollerday Hill, above the South West Coast 'North Walk', was built in 1893 and below, on the inland face, he also funded the building of the unique Town Hall. Opened by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes stories - it was given to the people of Lynton and Lynmouth for their pleasure.
Unfortunately the former grand residence known as Hollerday House that sat triumphantly above Lynton and Lynmouth was destroyed by fire in 1913.
Sir George Newnes also funded a narrow gauge railway linking Lynton to North Devon's major town of Barnstaple that opened in 1898. Its closure in 1935 was a great loss to the community, but after years of slumber, volunteers have restored Woody Bay Station, just outside Lynton, to its former charms of 1935, and the first stretch of track has been re-opened to the public.
In Lynmouth, the tragic great flood of 1952, when the East Lyn River burst its banks, took the lives of 34 people - and led to a redesign of the harbour town to prevent such a disaster re-occurring. The walk along the East Lyn River leads to Exmoor's famous National Trust beauty spot Watersmeet.
See our what to do page to discover what to see and do in Lynton and Lynmouth.
