Art, music and literature in Lyme Regis
Creative people have always been drawn to Lyme Regis. In 1725, the author Henry Fielding caused quite a stir when he failed to abduct the local heiress Sarah Andrew, later immortalised as ‘Sophie’ in his novel Tom Jones.
James McNeill Whistler, the American artist, visited the town in 1895, aged 61, and he painted here two of his finest portraits, The Master-Smith of Lyme Regis and The Little Maid of Lyme. These two paintings are now in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts.
Jane Austen was a frequent visitor to the town, first arriving in 1803 when she was 29. She stayed in a seafront cottage (which can still be seen) where she wrote Persuasion, setting part of the novel in the town. Austen fans can see the steep steps – known as Granny’s Teeth – where her character Louisa Musgrove fell. The BBC’s film of Persuasion released in 1995 was filmed partly in Lyme Regis.
Another visitor to the town was Beatrix Potter, and some of her watercolour illustrations for Little Pig Robinson were based on her views of the town.
It was here in 1969 that renowned local author John Fowles wrote the novel The French Lieutenant’s Woman which received international acclaim. In 1980, part of the town underwent a transformation for the filming of the novel, starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons, and featuring dozens of locals as extras.
The area is also enormously popular with a range of well-known and lesser-known artists, sculptors, potters and photographers. Because of this, there are many beautiful works of art available to view or buy around the exhibitions and galleries of Lyme Regis.
As well as being the home to a number of talented musicians and an active town band, Lyme Regis is also the venue for an annual jazz festival now in its 19th year.
