Lyme Regis railway station
closed station on the Lyme Regis brach line (1903–1965)
Lyme Regis railway station was the terminus of the Lyme Regis branch line, in the English county of Dorset. Serving the coastal resort town of Lyme Regis, it was sited high above the town centre as a result of the hilly nature of the local area. The line straddled the county boundary so that, although the terminus was in Dorset, most of the line lay in the neighbouring county of Devon.
History
Opened under the Light Railways Act 1896, it was operated from the start by the London and South Western Railway.
A small wooden building served the single platform. The station also had a signal box, an engine shed and a small goods shed.
The line passed on to the Southern Railway in 1923 and the Southern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. It was then transferred to the Western Region in 1963.
The branch line and the station were closed by the British Railways Board in November 1965.
The site today
The former site is now used by a builders' merchant and a small industrial estate.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Lyme Regis railway station” as closed station on the Lyme Regis brach line (1903–1965). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as closed station on the Lyme Regis brach line (1903–1965). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 20, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q6708163. Authority coordinates are 50.729, -2.946. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1896, 1923, 1948 and 1963.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Lyme Regis railway station”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Lyme Regis railway station primary sources, Lyme Regis railway station archive and Lyme research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Lyme Regis railway station”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Lyme Regis railway station” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.